The Fourth Transformation: How AR & AI Change Everything

There have been three previous digital transformations: The first took us from punching holes in cards for mainframes to typing words on screens on desktops. Then we went to pointing and clicking with the Macintosh. The third transformation came when we started doing things by touching mobile screens, with the iPhone. Each transformation allowed more people to use technology and brought humans and machines closer. Now, comes the fourth transformation into Mixed Reality and AR and VR headsets. Co-authors Robert Scoble and Shel Israel explain how rapidly work and life are changing as AR and VR change retail, industrial, healthcare, learning, communication, entertainment and everything else.

Presenter(s)

Robert Scoble is among the world’s best-known tech journalists and futurists. Based on his many meetings with tech pioneers and thinkers, he is always looking for early changes in patterns that foretell lasting trends. Three such trends have resulted in his three books with Israel.

Scoble has been a tech blogger since 2000, and was one of five people who built Microsoft’s Channel 9 video blog/community. He worked at Fast Company setting up and running its early online TV efforts, and has been part of technology media businesses since 1993.

For six years, he was Rackspace’s futurist, interviewing thousands of technologists and entrepreneurs about what’s next. Most recently, he was Entrepreneur in Residence, at Upload, Inc. where he and Israel incubated Transformation Group.

Shel Israel is Transformation Group’s business partner. He anticipates how tech will impact business processes. To a lesser degree than Robert, he is also a global keynoter focusing on mixed reality’s impact on business. He has spent half his career as a tech business journalist at publications that include Forbes, BusinessWeek and Business Insider.

The other half was as a tech marketing and communications consultant. He began at the legendary Regis McKenna, Inc., and later served as Ketchum PR’s senior vice president for consumer technology worldwide.  For 17 years he owned and led SIPR, an agency specializing in launching tech startups. His first startup was Sun Microsystems. Over the years he played key roles coaching entrepreneurs on business presentations and even wrote a book on it.

As a PR strategist, he played a role in introducing and popularizing such enduring categories as desktop presentation and mapping, PC sound and relational databases.