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Speech Is the Ultimate Invisible Computer InterfaceIn the next 10 years more than 50% of computer interactions will be via voice. The computer, the device and the legacy interface will disappear, all that will persist is the volition, intention, interaction and results.In the summer of 1952 Bell Laboratories actively tested Audrey (Automatic Digit Recognizer) [1] the first speaker independent voice recognition system that decoded the phone number digits spoken over a telephone for automated operator assisted calls.Schematic of Audery the first speaker independent voice recognition system.In 1962 IBM demonstrated at the World’s Fair its “Shoebox“ machine [2], which could understand 16 words spoken in English and was designed to be a voice calculator.Demonstration of IBM's “Shoebox“ at 1962 World’s Fair.Moving forward in time there were hundreds of advancements. Most of the history of speech recognition was mired in speaker dependent systems that required the user to read a very long story or grouping of words. Even with this training accuracy was quite poor. There were many reasons for this, much of it was based on the power of the software algorithms and processor power. Additionally continuous speech recognition, where you just talk naturally has only been refined to a great extent in the last 5 years.In the last 10 years there has been more advancement then the last 50 years. The line back to 1952 on to 2016 moved speech recognition to be one of the most important technology advancements in computer history.Speech Requires Less Mechanical Load And Cognitive LoadThe most powerful and efficient interface for communication is the human voice. It sounds obvious in this context and it has had a few million years of evolutionary development. Yet we take speech quite for granted as we only recently took to a mechanical system (typing, clicking, pointing) to interact with computers.Human speech is a far more refined tool that can convey densely packed instructions and requests in-situ more effectively. The mechanical load and cognitive load on the human is far lower when we can utter a phrase like "Alexa, what does my commute look like?" as compared to the 30+ cognitive and mechanical steps using the best smartphone and best apps. The alternative to speech requires the cognitive load on the brain and mechanical load to type with the cognitive load on the brain to interpret what a map may be relating. Simply asking a question is far more superior.Speech based interactions fundamentally have three advantages over current systems:Speech is an ambient medium rather than an intentional one (typing, clicking, etc). Visual activity requires singular focused attention (a cognitive load) while speech allows us to do something else.Speech is descriptive rather than referential. When we speak we describe objects in terms of their roles and attributes. Most of our interactions with computers are referential.Speech requires more modest physical resources. Speech-based interaction can be scaled down to much smaller and much cheaper form-factors than visual or manual modalities.The power of speech based systems have grown profoundly powerful with the addition of always on systems combined with machine learning (Artificial Intelligence), cloud based computing power and highly optimized algorithms. The speech recognition is combined with almost pristine Text To Speech voices that are so closely resemble human speech that many trained dogs will take commands from the best systems. Siri, Google Voice and Amazon Echo Alexa are the best consumer amiable examples of the combination of Speech Recognition and Text To Speech products today.We take for granted the mechanical processes we all have adapted to use computers we will be able to eliminate many if not all of these steps with just a simple question. This process can be broken out to 3 basic conceptual modes of voice interface operations:Does Things For You- Task completion:- Multiple Criteria Vertical and Horizontal searches- On the fly combining of multiple information sources- Real time editing of information based on dynamic criteria- Integrated endpoints, like ticket purchases, etc.Gets What You Say- Conversational intent:- Location context- Time context- Task context- Dialog contextGets To Know You- Learns and acts on personal information:- Who are your friends- Where do you live- What is your age- What do you likeIn the cloud there is quite a bit of heavy lifting working at producing an acceptable result. This encompasses:Location AwarenessTime AwarenessTask AwarenessSemantic DataOut Bound Cloud API ConnectionsTask And Domain ModelsConversational InterfaceText To IntentSpeech To TextText To SpeechDialog FlowAccess To Personal Information And DemographicsSocial GraphSocial DataVoice based computers seem to have limits on what can be accomplished. However when one truly analyzes the exact results we are looking for, a vast majority of times can simply be answered by a "Yes" or "No". When the back end systems correctly analyze your volition and intent countless steps of mechanical and cognitive load is eliminated. We have just recently entered into an epoch, at this moment, where all the right technologies have converged to make the full promise of an advanced voice interface truly arrive.The Secret "Project Doppler", Yap, Evi, And IVONAAmazon surprised just about everyone in technology when the secret 'Project Doppler' or 'Project D' from Lab126 offices in Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Mass. was announced on November 6, 2014. This was an outgrowth of a Kindle e-book reader project that began in 2010 and the acquisition of voice platforms it acquired from Yap, Evi, and IVONA.The original premise of Echo was to be a portable book reader built around a very well designed and powerful omni directional microphone and surprisingly good WiFi/Bluetooth speaker. This humble mission soon morphed into a far more robust solution that is just now taking form for most people.Beyond the the power of the Echo hardware is the power of Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is one of the largest virtual computer platforms in the world. Echo simply would not work without this platform for the local electronics in Echo are not powerful enough to parse and respond to voice commands with-out the millions of processors AWS has at its disposal.Since the 2014 limited release of Echo, Amazon recently added Echo Dot, which is hockey puck sized version of the Echo designed to connect to existing speakers since it only has a small speaker and the Amazon Tap, a portable and smaller version of the Echo with dual stereo speakers. They all are basically work the same.The evolution of Echo has been constrained and slowly new features are added. Today (Feb 4, 2016 version 3077 software update) Echo can:Order items from Amazon from both previous orders and the creation of new orders.Create shopping lists for use at other stores, not just Amazon.Read books from your Kindle library using Text To Speech.Play Audio books from your Audible library.Sports Update with details such as scores and upcoming schedules for NFL, NBA, MLS, MLB, NHL, WNBA, NCAA, and other American sports.Present weather and news from a variety of sources, including local radio stations, NPR, ESPN, TuneIn.Play music from owner's Amazon Music accounts and built in support for the Pandora, and Spotify streaming music service and streaming services such as Apple Music, and Google Play Music from a phone or tablet.Support for IFTTT (If This, Then That) voice-controlled alarms, timers, shopping and to-do lists.Personal workout trainer using Skills settings.Access Wikipedia articles.Respond to your questions about items in your Google calendar.Integrates with Philips Hue, Belkin Wemo, SmartThings, Insteon, and Wink with anticipated support of Countertop by Orange Chef, Scout Alarm, Garageio, Toymail, MARA, and Mojio.Give traffic reports.Hail an Uber car.Tune a guitar.A growing set of ASK (Alexia Speech Kit) developer "Skills" qusi-API.For many this is more then enough to justify a ~$150 purchase of the original Echo. These features were enough for me to have an Echo in the Kitchen, Master Bathroom (not in the toilet area) and in a car. I was fortunate to have one in early December 2014 and found it useful in ways I could not have predicted. In each setting there are unique and sometime unexpected use cases.Echo In The KitchenIn the kitchen Echo has become indespenible in creating family shopping lists. There is no way I would go back to the haphazard way that was replaced. We all simply call out to Alexa to add X to the shopping list throughout the week with a sort of frenzy of scouring the refrigerator, freezer and cabinets in a group effort just before we go shopping. Echo forms an unexpected connection with non-Amazon physical grocery stores. It is one of the largest oversights from Amazon not to have an easy way to convert all or part of a shopping list into an Amazon order. I am certain this deficit will be addressed soon.Echo also is very useful in cooking situations. Timers, timers and timers, I never used so many timers and frankly should have. Measurement conversions and recipe adjustments and recommendations have also been very useful.Echo in the kitchen also is a centerpiece for the family with my two boys asking just as many questions to Alexa as to me, "Alexa, why is the sky blue?". We have sort of a game where we see who can answer a question faster then Alexa, I win quite a bit but my children have caught up. I see Echo as important as any encyclopedia or school text book for education. This extends to the books that I have narrated during Breakfast and some other meals that seems to captivate all of us and promote questions and ideas from the minds of curious boys.Echo In The BathroomLets face it, even the most care free person spends quite sometime in the bathroom getting "ready" for the day. The majority of us (56%) take any time between 11 and 30 minutes getting ready [3]. That means 30% of American spend over a week in getting ready in the bathroom each year. I and my wife use this time to set todo lists, shopping lists listen to books and music and most indispensable to me, take notes for ideas and send an occasional Tweet. Since December 2014, Alexa and Audible has read me ~45 books while I was getting ready. It is a powerful learning tool, these are 45 books that I would have likely had to read at other times and perhaps conflicting with other things I wanted to do.I have been able to hack together a non-elegant way to use Echo to read Quora postings and I can say this has really extended my consumption of the work of the most amazing minds in the world on Quora. My method is an ugly hack that I hope will be made pretty in the future.I also set the Nest thermosstat via the IF (ifttt) app to a pleasant temperature in the morning. As well as set the final over night temperature. Although I do not yet have an Echo in the master bedroom, I do set light music in the evening that fills the room with more then adequate sound.Echo In The CarI am a researcher and this does compel me to try the unexpected and extreme. Thus I wanted to test just how effective and useful Echo would be in the car. This was in January 2015 and Echo was still not in wide distribution and I am rather certain I was one of the pioneers here.Echo in the car became absolutely indispensable, perhaps even more so then in the Kitchen. For obvious reasons driving requires the minimal amount of distractions. I use Echo for the same things I do at home but in many ways it is more effective. I use Echo to read a lot of Quora, news and books while on the road. The hack I use to post to Twitter is useful when a stream of ideas prompt me.The few hours a week I spend on the road has allowed me to access 1000s of Quora postings, daily headlines, a few hundred Tweets and about 31 books since December 2014.The experiment became permanent the moment I was able to get another unit to install in the car. The car has an AT&T hotspot built in and actually only added about $15 per month with all of my use. I also have a built in 120 VAC plug and found a sort of ok location for Echo in the car.Alexa, Google Or Siri? I Say Yes To AllLiving and working with Echo in three primary locations for over a year I am fully convinced that Echo and the many products I see that will come in the future will dominate our homes and vehicles. I think it is important to add that I am also a very heavy user of Apple's Siri and wrote quite a bit about it here on Quora [4]. I see Echo and Siri as similar but quite different on a few fundamental levels. Siri to me is very useful and quite indispensable for me answering text messages and composing short to medium amounts of dictated text. In fact, about 40% of this posting is being composed using Siri. To me it will never be an either/or situation but a rich mixture of uses that each system does better. I also use Google Voice to some degree mostly for searches, in fact all of the searches I used for this posting was conducted using Google Voice.As I mentioned above, even Amazon is in early days with Echo with the inability to convert a shopping list to a live Amazon order. When Siri was released I wrote quite a bit about the commerce aspect of Siri and speech in general [5]. I wrote of the prospect of Siri (or any voice based system) to become a transaction completion system. I wrote about a future in 2011 that I was certain Apple would adopt far faster then they have. I was writing about Apple getting into payments also at the time and knew that the product that became Apple Pay had to be released first. This finally took place on October 2014. Apple has made many improvements and updates to Siri but thus far has feel behind in some ways behind Amazon Echo. I am rather certain with Apple Pay 4.0 and really large changes to Siri that I am predicting, Apple will perhaps surpass Amazon. We already see a hint of this with the newest version of Apple TV.APIs Are The Future Of Voice InterfacesThe speech technology as it stand in March, 2016 is quite rich and useful and if the evolution were to stop today, it would have already made a permanent place in my life and the life of my family. But of course the innovation will not stop here. There is a huge future ahead with the possibility of open APIs from Amazon, Apple and Google that will extend the usability of Speech to far more extend use cases. I wrote about the prospects of how APIs can be the most defining element of a voice interface in 2011 with the release of Siri [6]. The Ontology of information accessed by a voice interface will continue to expand with higher momentum in 2016. Additionally access to controlling everything from lights to coffee makers via a voice interface will also gain higher momentum in 2016. Thus far none of the three large voice interfaces have open and useful APIs-yet but this will change. Although Amazon is well on the way with Alexa Skill Kit [7].Specimen of the Alexa Skills flow pattern.Education, Commerce And Advertising are the "Killer Apps" For Amazon EchoEducation: It is very clear to me after a year with Echo that Education is a fundamental but yet to be discovered aspect of this technology. So much so that I think in the next five years many students will find this type of voice interface as a study guide to be almost common. Amazon and Google are in a very unique position to leverage their huge inventory of indexed information into a speech based expert system powered by advanced machine learning technology.Commerce: Commerce seems logical to the inception of Echo, but as I mention, this was not the fundamental driving force during the development of "Project Doppler". It was a Kindle extension taken to an extreme. Thus it is not surprising that Amazon is just now catching up to the commerce element of Echo. You can order items of course today, but the expense needs to evolve. The external connection to Domino's Pizza presents just how deeply APIs can go.Advertising: The Domino's Pizza relationship presents a new advertising model that could very well change the entire industry. Very much like the Pay Per Click model Google refined in the 1990s the Pay Per Voice Order model can become a dominate platform. Amazon, Google and Apple can control this future where APIs and integrated payment systems from these companies complete transactions with just about any merchant for just about any product. Over 75% of sales on Amazon.com is from marketplace sellers and not Amazon. Amazon has great experience with being an advertising and payments platform and I am certain Echo will define this new advertising model."Alexa order a large cheese Pizza"These are the base foundations of why voice interfaces will thrive moving forward. If even one dominates short term it will be a revolution. Clearly the commerce and payments aspect is perhaps the largest element short term. Today you can sit in your kitchen and say "Alexa, order a large pizza from Domino's". It will be delivered in about 30 minutes and it will have already been paid for. Imagine how many mechanical and cognitive steps this six word command replaces. I have studied it, there are over 200 "Demming" steps.It may seem that Amazon will dominate this space. I firmly assert (and have for the last 3 years to clients) that after Apple Pay, voice commerce is the largest payments opportunity in this epoch. Simply put it may very well be someone in a garage right now building the foundation for this new payments and commerce recolution. The "winners" today have no guarantee to be "winners" in this new voice commerce world. This is not retail payments nor is it in-app or web based payments for many fundamental reasons.Voice commerce, history will show, is an entirely new and unique paradigm. I have studied every aspect of voice interfaces with attention to commerce and payments for over 20 years and we are at the pricipase of something revolutionary. I have identified a road map of over 200 points on how new payment paradigms, new non Amazon hardware and new businesses will develop in this eco system. Thus far not a single payments startup or legacy company is positioned to not only truly understand this opportunity, they may be edging away from it.Echo, A Novelty?I am certain in the era of punch cards being the primary user interface to a computer, a keyboard seemed like a novelty. I can fully attest to the fact that in the era where a keyboard as a primary user interface the mouse was considered a novelty. Finally the touch screen was certainly seen as a novelty in the era of the Blackberry micro keyboard.Demonstration of IBM'Punch Card interface at a time when the keyboard and display were considered a novelty.The Keyboard trumped the punch card. The mouse coexisted with the keyboard. The touchscreen made redundant the mechanical keyboard. In the the future just voice interfaces will make redundant the need for all of these things for a growing number of tasks. We will extract ourselves from the mechanical and cognitive processes of tasks we perform today and use our voices to command these very powerful systems in the cloud. These systems will do all of the work completing the tasks and report to us when they are done.Self Driving cars will require a voice interface for control and interaction. There is little doubt this technology will be critically important. Very much like how I use Echo in the car today, I am certain this too will become a popular way to consume information in this setting.Speech based interfaces allow you to multitask and do other things. Unlike the paradigm using a device and reading a screen, using your voice is liberating and increase productivity to an extend simply not possible with mechanical interfaces alone.The computer as we know it has been shrinking and in many ways will disappear and become a nexus connecting us via speech. There will still be touch screens and perhaps VR headsets, even perhaps holographic ephemeral displays in the next 10 years. However voice interfaces will continue to grow and supplement these experiences.One year of Echo use has informed me that the unabashed confidence of being a stand alone voice interface, always is its greatest strength. Unlike an appendage to a TV, Smart Phone or web browser, Echo truly defines the physical space where it lives. It is remarkable how quickly I have become used to entering a room and instantly addressing Echo with a request. I can see clearly where this will lead us all.The ultimate destination for the voice interface will be an anotnomous humanoid robotic system that very much like a science fiction movie, will fundamentally interact with us via voice. This feature is not as an afterthought but the centerpiece of the humanoid robots we will certainly have in the future.What we call a computer will fundamentally and profoundly change, our great granchildred will marvel at the Keyboard and Mouse and perhaps even a touch screen. They will see these user interfaces as a historic novelty.We have traveled so very far since Audrey in 1952. Echo, a novelty? No, Alexa is us just getting started._____[1] Popular Mechanics[2] http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/specialprod1/specialprod1_7.html[3] The morning routine: 30% spend over a week in getting ready each year[4] Brian Roemmele's answer to Why is Siri important?[5] Brian Roemmele's answer to Will Siri become a transaction completion system?[6] Brian Roemmele's answer to What do application developers need to know about Siri to interface with it?[7] Alexa Skills Kit (ASK)

True or Not, for sure, it makes a great read either ways!STEVE JOBS USED ALIEN TECHNOLOGY DISCOVERED ON THE MOON BY APOLLO 20 ASTRONUTS IN 1972 FOR THE APPLE IPAD AND IPHONEI have often wondered whether Steve Jobs, the former founder and CEO of Apple is as brilliant as many technology experts say. Compared to other company founders and CEO's, Steve's record of innovation and achievement is quite simply: ASTOUNDING and his record is unmatched. Name another CEO who racked up so many new product successes one after another, and has been doing it consistently for decades. You can't, can you?Steve's incredible success got me to thinking: What if Steve Jobs had some REAL help along the way? By REAL help I am not talking about assistance from his great team of new product designers and engineers who are reveered throughout the world for their creative genius and spirit of innovation. What I am really getting to is help from the beyond, help that no other company founder or CEO would ever have access to. I am talking about dark forces of the unknown, the kind of help that is so unreal and unimaginable that it would be earth shaking if the public ever became aware of it. Got you thinking, don't I?During the course of my extensive research and countless inquiries about Steve Jobs, I received a mysterious email. At first, I discounted the cryptic words of the writer. "Naw, it couldn't possibly be", I thought to myself, while sipping on 50 year-old brandy. But, upon reflection, I became convinced, that yes, this could be the REAL help that Steve Jobs got. The sender's name was UNIDENTIFIED, but what really got me was the subject line of the email which read:"Is this what you have been looking for?"NASA - 5 May 1972 - Need To Know - Top Secret Level 10 (Official NASA photo)In 1972, Apollo 2o astronauts discovered a mysterious device of alien origin laying on the surface of the Moon near the Sea of Tranquility, the landing site of several previous Apollo Moon missions. In 1978, Apple's Steve Jobs was contacted by NASA scientists to determine what it was, and the rest is history.The EMAIL contained the above attached image and following lengthy message. At the top it was labeled Everything Below This Line is Above Top Secret. Since I live dangerously and am something of an outlaw, I will let you read it, and do with it as you may. Just remember one thing, don't tell anybody else, or you will be erased out of existence.EVERYTHING BELOW THIS LINE IS ABOVE TOP SECRET- Simon Apocryphal, November 12, 2007"I am a former Apple employee. I do not wish to get my name out in the public because of the serious and obvious danger to my life if my identity became known. I am posting this under a false name, Simon Apocryphal. I was one of the original Apple employees. It was 1977 and Apple had just introduced the Apple II. I was a hardware engineer by trade, but in Apple's early days, it wasn't too uncommon for hardware engineers to work primarily with software. The industry was very young and there were relatively few people with a formal education in computer science.In early 1978, Jobs requested I attend a meeting with himself, Mike Markkula, and another engineer that shall remain unnamed. For the last few months, I had been working directly with Steve Wozniak testing and refining the Disk II. The project was coming to a close as we were refining our plans for mass production, so I assumed the meeting related to my next assignment at Apple.I remember our first meeting on a rainy Friday in January 1978. It was held in a small meeting room on our old campus. The other three participants were there, Steve, Mike, and the unnamed engineer. Jobs asked me if I wanted a Coke or juice before we started, I declined, and Mark stood up and closed the door behind me. Jobs looked at me and my engineering colleague and informed us that what we were going to talk about in the meeting was a corporate secret. He pulled out two pieces of paper from a folder in front of him and handed each of us a copy. The papers were legal documents. At the top, it read "Nondisclosure Agreement."We were asked to sign the document before we proceeded with the meeting. We signed the documents and Markula started explaining this new project to us. He told us that we were going to meet with a company called Affiliated Xanatech in Palo Alto, California. Markula explained that Affiliated was a government subcontractor and that the government was looking for high tech companies with experience commercializing bleeding edge technology to assist them in converting secret military hardware to private consumer applications.We were told that the government was looking into ways to fund black projects by licensing patents to companies like Apple in exchange for complete secrecy as to the true source of the technology. Private industry in Silicon Valley was responsible for some of the most incredible technological leaps in history and this fact did not go unnoticed by the U.S. government and military. We were told to not speak of this with anyone in the company, not even Steve Wozniak. Furthermore, we were told that the military would perform a thorough background check on us and brief us as to our responsibilities in regards to secrecy. Of course, we were going to need Top Secret security clearance from the government, a process that took a few months and involved the government thoroughly looking into our histories. I remember several of my colleagues being called and questioned about my background. We also filled out a book load of documents basically covering everything from our credit histories to where we went to primary school. It was an invasive process.Markkula had set up a meeting with Affiliated Xanatech in February 1979. Jobs, Markkula, the unnamed engineer, and myself arrived at Affiliated around 9:00 am on a Tuesday morning. The building was unassuming. It was a one-story structure with a very normal parking lot and one security guard standing in a small house at the entrance. We showed the guard the special passes sent to us by Affiliated and walked into the front lobby. At that point, we were greeted by five men in black uniforms carrying very imposing M-16s. They escorted us to the elevator and we went down some three floors or more. I would later discover that the facility had at least 8 sub-levels, but I was never able to confirm that.We met with two men in military uniforms in a large conference room. There are very few moments in life in which your entire world view is turned forever upside down, and for me, this was one of them. I still remember that turning point during the briefing when I realized what we'd just been told, and that I hadn't heard the speaker wrong, and that it wasn't some kind of joke. In retrospect the whole thing felt like it was in slow motion. When the term "extra-terrestrial" came up for the first time, the room itself seemed to go off kilter as we collectively tried to grasp what was being said. My mind kept jumping back and forth between trying to look at the speaker, to understand him better, and looking at everyone else around me, to make sure I wasn't the only one that was hearing this. But I don't want this story to be about me, so I will spare you any more insights into my emotional state at the time.Steve Jobs listened intently and for the first time I can recall, he didn't have anything to say. He simply nodded and peered intently at the speaker as he went overProject CARMA:Commercialization ofAlienResources forMarketAssimilationOur job was to examine recovered alien artifacts and come up with a commercial application for them related to the computer industry. The unnamed engineer and myself spent the next four months being briefed about security and the true nature of the project. I was told that if I ever went public with this information, I would be erased from existence. Furthermore, the agents threatened to erase all my family and friends. We worked under the barrel of a gun. Need to know was the order of the day. We were only given a very narrow description of the origins of the artifacts. We knew that they were of extra-terrestrial origin, but our government partners would not reveal anymore. In fact, they discouraged us from talking about the alien connections and they never brought the subject up unless we asked questions. Getting information about the artifacts was like pulling teeth. Answers were slow to come, if they came at all.We weren't the only team working on the artifacts, however, Apple was the only team from Silicon Valley. Apple was chosen because we were small and hungry. The government disliked monopolies and IBM was considered too much of a security threat. Other companies that we had contact with during project CARMA included Boeing, General Electric, GM, and Union Carbide Corporation. Some were examining the same artifacts we were given access to, others had access to areas of Affiliated off-limits to the Apple team.What we saw:We had access to an advanced computer system called the LAAC (Luminous Autonomous Agnition Computer). The LAAC was approximately the size of a soda can. Its interface is hard to explain. It didn't have a screen or projection of any kind. It projected itself into the user's mind. The object was activated by passing your hand over its top. It was deactivated in the same manner. Upon activation, a projection, an almost dream-like image in vivid color appeared in your head. We were told that the first person to use the device died of a brain embolism within seconds of activation. Apparently, the machine was a learning device that automatically adjusted itself to the human anatomy. The next person to try the device suffered from severe migraines after a few minutes of use. Over time, the machine fully adjusted to the human anatomy and was completely safe to use.For lack of a better term, we referred to its capabilities as magic. The government wasn't interesting in having us understand exactly how the device worked. They were interested in what we could take from it for commercial purposes. At first we were baffled. We knew that computers at the time could not possibly mimic the interface technology, nor could we come close to the device's capacity, which was not measured in bytes as far as we could ascertain and was unlimited in terms of storage and speed. We were interesting in its file structure. Information was stored in terms of "objects". The user selected the objects by moving an imaginary mental pointing instrument. The objects could be organized in a structured manner. It was really up to the user to determine the structure data was stored in the system.If the user wanted to draw an image, the LAAC created a sophisticated pallet with a set of advanced primitives. I guess you could say that the program was analogous to the modern Abobe Photoshop program, but with several profound differences. First, there were no user manuals or help functions. While hooked up the computer, the user instantly knew how to use every aspect of it and the user was free to modify the program in any way the user could imagine. We used the LAAC to define a whole new way to use a personal computer. In short, we used the LAAC to design, develop and test the operating system that would first appear on the Lisa and later on the Macintosh.You might have heard that Apple got many of its ideas for our first graphical operating systems from the Xerox PARC. This is only partially true. We used the PARC to help us determine ways to translate the advanced alien technology into contemporary computer technology. Obviously, we were constrained in terms of interface, storage, and speed. About the only thing we really took away from the PARC was the mouse, a device that allowed the user to move a cursor on the screen and manipulate computer-generated objects.What does Steve Jobs know about the aliens and when did he know it?We worked with the LAAC until early 1985. Our experiments were pumped into Apple's two competing system teams, the Lisa Team and the Macintosh Team. Steve Jobs worked with both teams and acted as a facilitator. His famous "reality distortion field," the seemingling magical influence Steve had over people, was partially due to his inside knowledge of the LAAC and partially due to another secret project he was working on at Affiliated. I can't give you more information on this and don't want to speculate on its meaning because I was only allowed to work with the LAAC.As many are aware, Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985 to start NeXT. The official story was that he had a disagreement with John Sculley, Apple's CEO, over the direction of the company. Here is what I know about what actually happened.Sculley was never informed about our dealings with the government. Jobs could have easily made Sculley do anything he wanted because of his access to the reality distortion technology, but he purposefully picked a fight with Sculley in order to create a plausible explanation for his departure from Apple.As I stated earlier, the government does not like monopolies that threaten its power. Jobs was given an ultimatum by his handlers at Affiliated. He was told that if he wanted ongoing access to the alien artifacts, he would have to create a start up company competing against Apple. Many of the revolutionary aspects of NeXT and later Mac OS X, come from his ongoing association with the government.Apple's association with CARMA ended shortly after Steve Jobs left the company. We were officially debriefed by government officials. We were told that we were not to ever disclose the program and that we were to continue working at Apple in order to keep tabs on Apple's use of the alien technology. I worked at Apple until 1992 and have since retired from the computer industry. I currently teach technology at a school that shall remain unnamed.Why am I coming out now? Well, I am at that age where it no longer matters what happens to me. I have recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness and before my time comes, I want to get this off my conscience. Apple is a great company, but it is shameful that we helped the government conceal the greatest secret of all time. The public must be told the truth."COMMENTARY: I knew it all along. I have been giving Steve Jobs and his Apple munchkins a.k.a. Apple's new product development engineers, too much credit. It now appears that every product Apple has ever produced probably had its origins from alien technology.Now it all makes sense to me why there are so many Apple mobile products--and it scares me. Aliens are always moving from one galaxy to another. If you are using an app, iPod, iMac, iPhone or iPad, it wasn't Steve Job's vision and talent for innovation that created it. It was those evil "Greys" with the dark black almond shaped eyes, and frail bodies. Come to think of it, Jobs looks a bit frail too, don't you think?Steve Jobs' mind empowers him to control yours and influence your very being. No wonder those Apple evangelists are such zealots, with a lemming-like behaviors, and crazy over Apple products. They would buy a toilet, if the Apple brand was emblossomed on it. Jobs burned the Apple brand into their feeble-minded brains. They will buy only Apple products for the rest of their tormented lives. Now Jobs is doing the same thing with PC Windows users. Very slowly and with stealth, he is converting Microsoft and Windows PC users to Apple products. But, no Flash.I dugged deep into the internet, and could not find a damn thing about a company named Affiliated Xanatech. For security reasons, probably erased forever by men in black suits and sunglasses. I have a dark feeling that the company was secretly assimilated into Apple, where it now operates on black government projects to create the mobile products of tomorrow.I got to get me an LAAC computer. Screw the mouse and pointer. It's all in my mind. I can move objects. This blog resides in my head. No more "clickity-clickity" sounds of me typing on a computer keyboard. If anyone knows where I can get one, please leave a comment. I promise not to disclose your identity.Courtesy of an alien artifact dated November 12, 2007 from an unidentified individual code named Simon ApocryphalTaken from : STEVE JOBS USED ALIEN TECHNOLOGY DISCOVERED ON THE MOON BY APOLLO 20 ASTRONUTS IN 1972 FOR THE APPLE IPAD AND IPHONE

Prepare a business plan, and funding request that clearly demonstrates your ability to deliver differentiated value and an attractive proposition to investors.Successful businesses are well planned and appropriately capitalized.Being well planned is the first step towards being well capitalized. Being able to present a clear, concise, logical and supportable financial projection is probably the most important key to having a chance of obtaining the capital you desire.It is critical to develop a business plan that will guide your company and allow outsiders to picture where you are going and how you plan to get there. It is the road map that will help you articulate to others, gain buy in from investors/lenders, support the development and recruitment of a quality team, and help navigate you to where you want to go.Lenders or Investors, which way do I go? They tend to look at transactions from very different perspectives. Lenders are mostly concerned with "Can you repay?" While investors are more interested in "How far can you go?" There are certain items of information common to both. The process of planning will help guide which way you are most likely to go.It is important than you not only know and believe in your plan but that you be able to articulate your ideas to others and that you have done the research to support your assumptions. A skilled presentation will go a long way towards earning you the capital you desire. Make sure you practice your pitch on everyone who will listen before you pitch it the first time to investors or lenders.Executive SummaryYour executive summary is the overview description of your product or service, its market, your niche, the management, the mission, company structure, pro forma highlights, funding request, use of funds and proposed terms. It covers all the highlights of your plan and proposal. It should be no more than two pages, effectively tease interest and lead the audience to want more detail, which you give them in the following pages. The executive summary is what opens the door. Get it right, they come in and want to know more. Get it wrong its a revolving door.Demonstrate your vision, your skillset your ability to execute the plan, and that you are the person they should invest in.At Lavan Financial group we believe in 6 business building blocks, or precepts foundational and common to most successful businesses; Appropriate capital, talent, structure/organization, purpose, networking, and of course planning, which is the first step to being appropriately capitalized.We believe a business can progress through 7 distinct, and fluid stages; From startup to viability, growth, and various levels leading to and from sustainable success, or failure. Sustainable success is characterized by an agile and highly functioning business. Resources are effectively used to deliver predictable results. Each stage has identifiable hurdles, but many common to business type or industry. To navigate each stage and steer towards, or maintain business success, requires varying degrees of emphasis and focus on the precepts. The structure or organization that works for a start-up does not necessarily apply or work as the company chooses to grow. The skill-sets or talents necessary to lead a larger enterprise are different to the flatter structure in an early stage company.We are invested in the long-term success of SMEs. We provide funding, growth and performance solutions to increase the success rates of SMEs. Please feel free to reach out to us to discuss any company needs."Education is learning from teachers and books. Experience is learning from your mistakes. Knowledge, experience, judgement and a visceral purpose, balanced, help make the journey fulfilling”There are numerous creative ways to finance your business.Debt, Equity and various funding optionsDebt funding is normally cheaper and easier to find than equity funding. Debt typically carries the burden of monthly payments, whether or not you have positive cash flow.Equity investors expect little or no return in the early stages, but require much more extensive reporting as to the company's progress. They have invested on the gamble of very high returns. Therefore, investors anticipate that goals and milestones will be met.Debt financing is usually available to all types of businesses. Equity is generally restricted to businesses with fast and very high growth potential.Debt ConsiderationsFor what type of debt financing can my company qualify?How much debt can I afford?Can I handle the payments if cash flow is off?What happens if interest rates rise?Am I willing to pledge company and personal assets?What about my personal guarantee?Debt lending is more analytical than personal. Are your ratios right? Do you have the assets? Are you credit worthy?Equity ConsiderationsWhat type of investors do I target?Am I willing to share control and future profits?Do I really want investors as partners forever?How big of a share am I willing to give up?Will I be able to keep up with all the required reports?What about disclosing company secrets to potential investors?Investors will want to take a much larger share of a start-up venture, than they will of a company with a two or three year track record of success.In any event to acquire appropriate funding you should prepare your plan and proposal. The learning process is invaluable and will help direct you to most likely funding solutions, and to develop an appropriate capital structure to help drive success.—————————————————————————————————————The remainder of this answer provides greater detail and speaks to various funding sources and considerations. Yes, its long so scan as you wish.AngelsAngels are individual private investors who make up a large portion of "informal" venture capital. These investors tend to keep their money close to home (50 miles or so). They invest smaller amounts ($10,000 to $250,000) and they are difficult to locate because they usually don't belong to networks or trade associations.Angels are found among friends, family, customers, professionals, suppliers, and competitors. There are a few private investor locating services out there. Beware of those who charge large ($1,000+) advance fees in order to put you in touch with investors. Do your homework and be careful.Venture CapitalMore time is wasted chasing venture capital than any other type of financing. These investors are looking for huge returns not just good ones. Venture capital is extremely hard to get and the competition is fierce. These funding sources get thousands of requests each year and only invest in three or four.The managers who invest these funds are experts at finding the very best deals. They are looking for projects that are National or International in scope, that have a minimum of $25 million dollar annual revenue potential, and proven successful management teams. Most Venture Capitalists won’t talk to you unless you come from a trusted source and are highly recommended. A great number of VC deals come from Angel Investors, Law Firms, or Accounting Firms. f you really want VC money then find individuals who are well connected in the VC community and get them to personally invest in your business. Then get them to help you build a “Captain of Industry and Investment” board of directors. Then you might be ready to present your ideas to the VC community.99.9% of the time seeking Venture Capital is a waste of your valuable time, but if you won’t take my advice then you need to really do your homework.Joint Ventures/Strategic PartnershipsWhere two companies with parallel interests get together based on their mutual needs:They have the money…you have the plan.You have the product…they have the distributorsDo your homework. Seek out companies with parallel interests to your own. You have the world's best new phone design and they are AT&T. This requires much more research than simply asking for a loan. Most of these partners will settle for 20% to 30% equity in your company. Be careful to protect your ideas by having any potential partners sign a non-circumvention agreement.Small Business Administration (SBA)A tremendous resource, but the paperwork can be tiring. This is a great place to look. The SBA has many different programs. Your local bank should have an SBA loan officer who can explain them to you. If you need less than $50,000 the SBA programs probably aren’t for you. Check http://htttp://www.sba.gov for the latest SBA programs.Small Business Investment Corporation (SBIC)These firms leverage their private capital into government money to form a sort of venture capital fund. Most SBICs are part of commercial banks. They offer both long term loans and equity participation. They are conservative investing mainly in established companies for management buyouts, funds to go public, strategic partnerships and bridge financing.Commercial PaperThis is a short term debt instrument typically issued from 2 to 270 days. An issue is normally a promissory note that is unsecured and discounted from its face value. The issue is usually backed by a letter of credit or some other from of credit guarantee. The company may pledge assets to obtain a credit guarantee which is then leveraged into an issue of commercial paper.Letters of CreditIssued to your funding source on your behalf, as a guarantee that you will pay. If you don't pay the issuer does. Your bank might issue the L/C based on your pledge of a receivable or other hard asset.Receivable FactoringA great method of financing. Funds are advanced against goods sold, accepted and not yet paid for. Normal advances on accounts receivable are 70% to 85%. The lenders are looking for account receivables that have ninety (90) days or less to be paid. Funding is available for older accounts receivable, but the rates are commensurately higher.Purchase Order AdvancesLeveraging your future. If you have purchase orders with your customer base, you may be able to get advances towards their completion. The typical advance can be less than 50%, and is typically coupled with a factoring transaction where the PO firm is paid out of accounts receivable proceeds.Equipment Financing/LeasingYou can think of leasing as renting assets. You gain the capital equipment you need and agree to pay rent for a specific period of time. There is no interest rate here, but the rates tend to be higher than commercial loans. Some of that is offset by being able to expense 100% the payments (pretax). Check with your tax accountant to be sure.Asset Sale Lease-BacksIf you are cash poor and asset heavy, this may work for you. Here you are selling your asset for cash to a funding source who leases it back to you (typically with a lease end purchase option). The downside of this approach may be capital gains or sales tax.Asset based lendingWorking capital, without having to rely on debt-based structures.Asset-based loans program provide revolving line of credit structured around the value of fixed business assets, and or term loans to unlock the capital potential in assets such as:InventoryEquipmentReal estateVehiclesSuppliesAccounts receivableThey are extremely valuable for companies with intense capital requirements like manufacturers, suppliers and distributors. ABL and hybrid version such as interest rate only structures and balloons help high growth firms with the capital necessary to scale. Banks are typically not interested in this type of lending until the size reaches $10m + and or global ratios and size fit their conservative standards. Even when they do participate the leverage is still biased towards cash flow.Lavan Financial Group offers best of breed ABL solutions. We bridge the gap and ensure the right amount of leverage and hand off to a future banking relationship.Private PlacementsA do it yourself stock offering. A great way to raise small amounts of capital ($500,000 or less) with a few investors (typically less than 35). These are now available in a boiler plate format in most states. Contact your state's Department of Corporations for information on what is required to stay out of trouble.Public Offerings504, 505 & 506 Offerings.Forms of stock offerings that let you raise more money and have more investors than private placements. These are great vehicles if you take the time to figure them out. Contact the SEC, they send you the rules and the forms.Limited PartnershipsYou can look for one or form your own. Limited partnerships usually exist for the purpose of investing. The general partner has all the exposure and management duties, while the limited partners have put up all the money. There are numerous Limited Partnerships out there that have been formed to invest in businesses. You can search them out or inquire with your State as to the requirements for forming your own.Convertible DebtThis is normally a loan than can be converted (at the lender's option) into an ownership position in the company. These are most common with seed or start-up funding where the lender would like a piece of the firm in the event you become a tremendous success.State BondsMost states have revenue bonds. These bonds are usually designed as debt instruments, where the company issues the bond and the state agency underwrites it. These bonds are generally issued to promote manufacturing facilities that will create jobs.Lines of CreditA revolving account that is continuous in its nature. The funds are available as draw downs against the total line. These types of accounts are most commonly secured with accounts receivable and inventory as collateral, although there are bank unsecured lines, the holly grail coveted by most business owners. If you have revenue in excess of $400k, positive EBITDA and been in business for 2 years or more with personal credit above 700 and strong business credit you stand a good chance. Sizing is typically around 10–12 % of annual revenue.Short-term loanA one-time short-term loan (less than a year) to finance your temporary working capital needs. If you have a good banking relationship they might be willing to provide a short-term note for one order or accounts receivable buildup.Lavan Financial Group offers best of breed term loans broader than just banks we have 1 to 4 year terms starting at 6% and funded within 2–3 days.Trade CreditorsVendors who are willing to extend credit terms to enable your business to meet orders. For instance, if you receive an order that you can fulfill, ship out and collect in 60 days, you obtain 60-day terms from your supplier if 30-day terms are normally given.Reality Check – The Venture Capital MarketWhat really are your chances of receiving a venture capital investment?The reality is that 99.9% of all companies who receive any capital at all for their business, do not receive “Institutional Venture Capital”. Currently there are more than two million new businesses formed each year in the United States alone there are over 1,000 U.S. based venture capital firms.The fact is that only 0.1% of all business investment capital comes from established Institutional Venture Capital funds.Many entrepreneurs make a big mistake by spending too much of their valuable time chasing Venture Capital that they will never have a hope of receiving, rather than spending their time pursuing more readily available capital that they have a much better chance of obtaining. The result for most is personal disappointment and business disaster.If your hoping for venture capital and or angel investors here’s some questions to ask yourself so you don’t waste your time running down rabbit hole.Venture Capitalists are overrun with business plans and invention ideas. The reality is that they have a limited amount of time and resources to carefully select the businesses that they are even willing to consider. To put it in perspective, the average venture capital firm that looks at 2,000 plans a year might consider 20, perform due-diligence on 10 and actually invest in 2 or 3.So, how do you know if you and your business plan will even get to the consideration stage?Venture Capitalists are looking for huge returns from defendable and sustainable revenue models. They are looking for proprietary technology and large barriers to competition entry. They are looking for experienced successful management teams and they are looking for entrepreneurs who come well recommended from sources that they trust.1.Does your business have some unique technology or service?What that means is do you have a unique that product or service that addresses a large market? Have you developed new software, hardware, electronics, distribution systems, medical devices, bio-med solutions, new forms of energy, modes of transportation, etc. Something new!2. Can your business carve out a significant and sustainable market share against existing market leaders?Venture capitalist will unlikely invest in your company if you are going up against Apple unless of course you have new and proprietary technology. The risk is too great to justify the expense. That’s where your technology comes in, if you have developed something that opens up whole new markets or that will give you a significant lead in capturing the all important first mover position then you have a chance. If your products or services are just an add on or variation of an already existing technology where all the market leader has to do is make changes to their existing product, then you have little hope of being considered.3. How much money do you need for R&D and to reach the market?Risk versus reward, the typical Venture Capital fund wants to see that you require between $500,000 to $5 million. Above $5 million and most Venture Capital funds will want to bring in other funds to spread the risk and the deal can become much more complex. Venture Capital firms will want to see that you are going to maximize every penny and that you can get to market for the least amount possible.4. What is the ease to the market?Entrepreneurs and inventors are great at coming up with new products and business ideas, but will they sell? Have you considered who will sell them? What will it cost you to reach the market? Is consumer education required? Is brand awareness required? Will you have to develop your own distribution channels or are there existing channels that you can use?5. What level of customer support will your product require?Venture Capitalists won’t care if you have an outstanding product if it is going to cost $100 million to teach the public how and why to use it. Very complex products can require very expensive customer support. For example if you have developed a new type of consumer cooking device that is as fast as a microwave oven, but cooks like a convention oven … great you’ve got something. But if your device requires an expensive third party install and is difficult and complex for the consumer to use, the appeal of your investment may have gone away. The requirement for expensive customer support may not be a deal killer if your answer to number 6 is a 10.6. Is the market that you will serve huge?In our example above the Venture Capitalist may not care so much about customer support if the market is so large that it out weighs the cost to educate the consumers. Your oven may have such mass appeal that after development it can be sold to giants for introduction into the market.7. Can your product produce gross margins greater than 50 percent?If your “margins” are below 50% than the margin for error is too low. You won’t have enough to sustain you if things don’t go just right and there isn’t enough profit in the deal to make it worth venture capital consideration.8. Does your management team have the experience and skills to succeed?Venture Capitalists are not interested in your learning curve and they certainly aren’t interested in risking their money on your education. They are interested in strong management teams with proven track records that pertain to what you plan to achieve.9. Are you and those now in your business committed to its’ success?How much have you invested to get this far? Who has invested with you? Do you have Angel Investors who have believed and invested? Has your existing Board of Directors invested?Venture Capitalists hate to be the only one with “skin in the game”. They are more likely toinvest if they see a number of private investors already in, maybe an Angel Investor they know, maybe a law firm they have had dealings with.10. Can your company achieve gross annual revenues of $25 million in 3 years, and does it have the possibility to reach at least $100 million in 5 years?If your business cannot reach $25 million in gross annual revenue in 3 years, then You have little hope of obtaining institutional Venture Capital.In any event to acquire appropriate funding you should prepare your plan and proposal, the learning process is invaluable and will help direct you to feasible more likely funding solutions and develop a capital structure to help drive success.