Podcast #11 - Lon Safko
Lon played the instrumental role in founding the now $5.3BN Assistive Technology Industry and in his interview shares his view of innovation and stories on the inception of this technology which began in 1984. Many of Lon’s inventions were the archetypes to what we now know of as the Dragon Naturally Speaking product, the original Newton (pda) O.S., “Tool Tips”, X-10 Powerhouse, and Microsoft’s Bob O.S.
From paper models to garden hoses to AI and now the Smithsonian, Lon has had an interesting career. He believes that anyone can train his/her mind to see opportunities and deficiencies and think like an Innovator using what he calls “The Three C’s.”
Read more from Lon on his web site, follow along on his blog and see his collection in the Smithsonian. Lon will also represent “The Inventor” at the 71st Annual Meeting of the Society of American Archivists held in Chicago this August. Questions for Lon regarding this podcast? Ask away via the comment link.
January 11th, 2007 at 11:13 am
[…] I had the opportunity to interview Lon recently and ask him how he played the instrumental role in founding the now $5.3BN assistive speech technology industry. Lon shares his view of innovation and stories from dealing with kingpins like Gates, Woz and Jobs in the 80’s, talks about the inception of his invention (a technology that would later become the Dragon Naturally Speaking product) and what it takes to be an inventor and innovator. From paper models to garden hoses to AI and now the Smithsonian, Lon has had an amazing career. He believes that anyone can train his/her mind to see opportunities and deficiencies in the world and learn innovation using what he calls “The Three C’s.” Listen to his amazing interview (35min - 41MB) on the latest episode of the Grid7 Venturecast series. Pass it along:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
January 12th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
[…] The latest installment of the Grid7 Venturecast is now online. This installment features inventor Lon Safko. Lon Safko is the godfather of the Assistive Speech Technology Industry having invented the technology that became the Dragon Naturally Speaking product. Eighteen of Lon’s inventions were recently inducted into the Smithsonian alongside thinkers such as Darwin, Wyeth and Edison for having made the most significant contribution this century to the human-computer interface. […]
January 21st, 2008 at 1:57 pm
[…] From paper models to garden hoses to A.I. and now the Smithsonian, Lon has had an interesting career. He believes that anyone can train his/her mind to see opportunities and deficiencies and think like an Innovator using what he calls “The Three C’s.” Listen to this amazing interview as the latest episode of the Grid7 Venturecast series. Read more… News […]