Ken Pyle
Verified
As seen in:
Viodi View,
LinkedIn,
The Mercury News,
East Bay Times,
Market Realist,
Packetst Storm,
San Jose Inside
Broadband Forum - Marketing Director | ViodiView/ViodiTV - Managing Editor. | RTs, likes ≠ endorsements. Views are my own. linkedin.com/in/kenpyle/
Articles by Ken Pyle
Viodi View – 10/31/26
The human-to-human connection transcends time. That thought struck me at a friend’s recent retirement. Life’s daily noise can mean long separations, but when reunited, it is like old times again. Often the bonds of those friendships are forged through the shared challenges of a work project or experience that, in the moment, was extremely stressful. “The equipment is in town.” That was the good news.
Hearing via Eyeglasses
Anyone who has attended a major trade show, such as CES in the above interview, knows how unforgiving the acoustic environment can be. For someone with hearing loss, noisy settings like crowded convention centers or busy restaurants are notoriously difficult. Tom Pritsky, who has bilateral hearing loss and wears hearing aids in both ears, founded Captify after years of dealing with this firsthand.
A Vulcan Mind Meld with Professor K.
This video has three parts: 1) Professor Kornhauser’s comments on a podcast that were turned into a video about an autonomous delivery vehicle with a unique way of delivering packages. 2) How AI may eventually be a new form of compression for images and video. 3) How this may eventually lead to the science fiction Vulcan mind meld. Read more below. The often-overlooked value of artificial intelligence lies in its ability to compress information.
Viodi View – 09/26/26
A highlight from this year’s summer vacation was a work moment caught on camera. Work on a vacation? Isn’t that a contradiction? After eight days in Manhattan, a detour to New Hampshire to film preview video segments for the Innovation Demonstrations was a relief.
Viodi View – 08/29/26
The stories coming out this week about Dolly Parton’s generosity are heartwarming and inspiring. Her legacy will continue to grow through the good she did while here on earth. For example, the Fiber Broadband Association and its members embraced and are amplifying her Imagination Library initiative. Her ongoing examples of helping others may be a greater memorial than her unbelievably large catalog of original music.
Viodi View – 07/25/26
What drives the desire that humans have for movement? Dr. Kornhauser’s answer, the obvious one, is that it signifies a desire to improve the quality of life in some way. Removing the friction for getting around, whether that means accessibility, security, or affordability, is a common theme of this issue of the Viodi View. See below for links to interviews with some early-stage entrepreneurs that Viodi met at CES2026 who are trying to make it easier for humans to get from point A to point B.
The Unbundling of the Autonomous Ride: Bringing Privacy to Shared Mobility
Ridesharing revolutionized urban mobility, but it came with a compromise that many passengers never fully accepted: the loss of personal space. Whether it is a chatty driver, a rowdy co-passenger, or simple security concerns, the traditional shared vehicle has always forced a choice between economic efficiency and personal privacy.
Redefining the Wheel: How s-Drive is Rewriting the Rules of EV Architecture
For years, automotive visionaries have promised that in-wheel motors would completely revolutionize how we design and build electric vehicles. The concept makes perfect sense on paper: place the power directly where the rubber meets the road, clear out the engine bay, and maximize space. Yet, traditional “hub” motors have consistently hit a wall known as unsprung mass—the heavy weight of the motor sitting directly inside the wheel compromises handling and punishes a vehicle’s suspension.
The Flying JetBike and the Evolving Future of Personal Flight
Over the past few years, the Viodi View has tracked the steady progress of the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) revolution. From our early look at Bye Aerospace’s trainers to Pivotal’s landmark moment opening order books for the Helix at CES 2024, the path to accessible, personal aviation has shifted from “if” to “when”.
Viodi View – 06/27/2026
A personal highlight, and there were many, of the Broadband Forum’s Summer Meeting in Milan had little to do with the actual content of the meeting. It started with an idea sparked by the physical presence of Portuguese-speaking members, specifically Radisys‘ Francisco De Carvalho, who is also a Broadband Forum Board Director. If the task hadn’t been so daunting, the cute little Broadband Forum Arrow character would not have been created.
Italian Hall of Fame Car Designer Michael Robinson on the Ferrari Luce, Futurism & AI
Will the Luce be the beginning of the end for the iconic Ferrari brand? One is left wondering whether that might be the fate of this iconic Italian vehicle maker after listening to Michael Robinson in the above interview. As background, the British magazine, Magneto, listed Michael at number 31 among the top 50 all-time car designers in the world in 2021. In 2011, he was inducted into the Italian Car Designer Hall of Fame in the National Automobile Museum in Torino.
Viodi View – 05/30/26
Teresa McGaughey provided the big picture regarding AI and automation at the Tech Perspectives with the Broadband Forum “It’s [AI] helping us be better. And that’s the same thing that Google did with their protein folding, is they did what couldn’t be done by humans without the AI.
AI-Generated Speaker Timer
This project started as a search for a timer that would let speakers know how much time they had left. Gemini found solutions. Then, it struck me that it could probably be done in an HTML file. This was the prompt. Could you just help vibe code a solution that would work on a MAC or a PC? It only has to have the most basic operation – input the amount of time for an alarm.
Sleep Noise Generator – AI Experiment
The following prompt was used with Grok to create a white (or pink or brown) noise generator for a better night’s sleep. This is an alternative to downloading an app. “Please make a noise generator for optimizing sleep.” White • Pink • Brown Noise Type of Noise Volume 60% Timer (minutes) 60 minutes Pink and Brown noise are often best for sleep. Brown feels like a deep waterfall or distant thunder. Pink is like steady rain.
No Hassle, Continuous Gut Monitoring for Proactive Health
At CES 2026, the concept of the “smart home” moved deeper into the most private room of the house. While ViodiTV has previously explored the evolution of “health from the hip” with companies like Olive Diagnostics and the high-tech wellness concepts from Toto, a new player, Throne Science, is looking to make gut health monitoring entirely passive.
Viodi View – 04/25/26
Umwelt – a word that German biologist Jakob von Uexküll uses to describe the perceptual world of biological organisms. It is the theme of Ed Yong’s book, An Immense World. His book explores the different ways living beings, whether plants, insects, or animals, sense, think, and act.
Viodi View – 03/28/26
Quality of Experience – what does it mean in the context of broadband networks? Does it mean meeting certain technical specifications around attributes like speed, latency, and loss? Does it mean reliability? Or, does it mean other things that are not necessarily technical in nature, but more about basic business building blocks that are measure by NPS (Net Promoter Score)? That is, delivering a product that is right for a given customer at the right time.
When Broadband Speeds and Price Don’t Matter
This post could be considered an update of a 2004 article, That article compared DSL to Cable Modem service provisioning in two different locations. This was the era before smart phones, ubiquitous broadband, and TR-069 for remote management of CPE. DSL was the only broadband option for most of Silicon Valley. Residents of the greater Tampa Bay area had a choice between DSL and Cable Modems. In the end, the purchase decision had little to do with, technology, speed, or price.
Viodi View - 02/28/26
AI agents create content from the online and real-world zeitgeist. This is one of the epiphanies from a thirty-second music creation experiment. See the Korner for more details on that ViodiTV experiment. But first, we will focus on a key leader in the rural broadband industry. This leader has been prominent for the past couple of decades. Shirley Bloomfield has been a tireless advocate for NTCA members and their biggest cheerleader. She did a great job representing them in Washington and beyond.
The Automatic Camera Cleaner for Clear Autonomous Driving
There are generally two camps when it comes to the topic of autonomous vehicle sensing: Camp Fusion believes that fusing multiple sensor types—vision, LiDAR, radar, etc.—is a prerequisite for safety. Members of this camp, such as Zoox and the current iteration of Waymo, argue that sensors like LiDAR and radar provide superhuman perception capabilities that cameras alone cannot match.
Viodi View - 01/24/26
“Safety First.” This is the mantra for any reputable company. It applies to the protection of staff as well as the operation of a product or service. In the realm of autonomous vehicles, is safety a unique selling proposition or is it a necessary condition? Professor Kornhauser and Michael Sena argue the latter in this spicy and entertaining Smart Driving Cars podcast.
Gadzooks – A Brief View of a Las Vegas Driverless Shuttle
This is a tough love article, as this author wants to see mobility services like Zoox succeed. That bias started with this 2014 Viodi fictional story about the wide-ranging impact of an affordable, accessible driverless ride-share service. Purpose-built, autonomous electric vehicles, like what Zoox is testing in Las Vegas are central to such a future. The January journey with Zoox, captured in the unedited video clips above, provide evidence that Zoox is not ready for commercial deployment.
Reluctant Robots Stuck in Traffic
Should a real-world driving test with a human examiner be required before autonomous vehicles remove the human safety supervisor? That’s the question that came to mind after watching multiple Zoox vehicles navigate the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard (the Strip) and Spring Mountain Road. Filmed on January 6th, 2026, around 6 PM, it was at the height of CES-induced traffic. This video intended to capture 10 to 15 seconds of broll to reinforce the recurring CES theme of physical AI.
Viodi View - 12/31/25
This New Year’s Eve addition of the Viodi View offers a glimpse of CES 2026 through some just-published interviews from CES 2025. The topics range from small modular nuclear reactors to devices that assist the visually impaired to on-demand trash pick-up. Interestingly, none of these stories deal with the consumer gadgets and devices that were foundational to CES in its early decades.
On-Demand Trash Pick-Up with HARR-E
Imagine never again hauling heavy bins to the curb or waking to the rumble of garbage trucks at dawn. That’s the promise of HARR-E (Hail-able Autonomous Refuse Robot – Electric), an innovative electric robot unveiled at CES 2025 by Oshkosh Corporation’s Pratt Miller division. In a captivating interview with Autonomy Engineer Devin McCulley, the technology’s potential shines through—delivering convenience for residents, environmental gains, and operational efficiencies for waste agencies.
Viodi View - 11/28/25
The word of the day is zoomorphize. It is a word that can be used to describe people’s behavior when interacting with robots. It takes just a few seconds to slip into a world where a robot seems to have lifelike features. This was a recent revelation upon encountering delivery robots on the streets of Tucson. This wasn’t the first time it happened to this author, as seen in the brief video highlighted below in the Korner. Thanks to the Broadband Forum, my employer, for supporting this newsletter.
Magnes Smart Shoe - A Step Towards Regaining Independence
Seven years ago, Viodi explored the burgeoning world of connected wearables and the idea that “The Foot Bone Is Connected to the Bluetooth,” focusing on how connectivity was coming to the very foundation of human movement. At CES 2025, that initial connected promise has evolved into the medical grade, machine-learning intelligence found in the Magnes NUSHU X Smart Shoe, a device that is literally stimulating movement for those who need it most.
Viodi View - 10/25/25
Six continents represented, eight Innovation Demonstrations displayed, and multiple BASe sessions presented are some of the numbers linked to the Broadband Forum’s contributions to the 2025 Network X conference in Paris. The numbers, though, don’t convey the impact of face-to-face get events, like Network X. The links below offer a glimpse of the Broadband Forum’s Innovation Demonstrations.
Solving the Airport's Last Mile Challenge
At CES 2025, we spoke with Rajeev Ramanth of Blueberry Technology, Ltd. about their innovative solution to a perennial challenge in air travel: unreliable and unpredictable mobility assistance. Their new product, BB Go, is a fully autonomous personal vehicle designed to transform the travel experience for mobility-challenged passengers. The current system for airport wheelchair service is under strain.
Viodi View - 09/28/25
It is a season of conferences. This means that this issue, like the August issue, is largely composed on an airplane. One benefit of conference season is connecting and making memories with friends new and old, in places near and far. Thanks to the Broadband Forum, my employer, for supporting this newsletter. The content, views, and opinions expressed herein are not those of the Broadband Forum. First up is SCTE’s TechExpo25 in Washington DC.
Playing for Love - The Timeless Justin Hayward
From before Days of Future Passed to Strange Times and beyond, Justin Hayward has been connecting the past to the future to the Present with his solo work, collaboration with other artists, and, of course, with the Moody Blues. His recent concert in Derry, New Hampshire, was as good as any of the 10+ Moody Blues concerts this author has seen, as described in this review.
Viodi View - 08/31/25
“So much has changed, and so little has changed. ” That well known phrase comes to mind when comparing a recent vacation on water to one from a human generation ago. The addiction to connectivity is the same as it was then, but the ease and the speed of connecting is so much simpler now, thanks to multiple generations of technology improvements in that 20-year timespan.
Viodi View - 07/27/25
Going to an amusement park is a summertime thrill for kids. It was fun to have that feeling again a few weeks ago, as Waymo delivered the back to the future experience that Viodi wrote about some 11 years ago. Read more about this summer highlight below, in the Korner. Thanks to the Broadband Forum, my employer, for supporting this newsletter. The content, views, and opinions expressed herein are not those of the Broadband Forum. Camping is peak summer fun for many people.
The 2040 Vision Compared to Today's Autonomous Vehicle Reality
Eleven years ago, Viodi envisioned a fictional story of a shared, electric, autonomous mobility set in the year 2040. Rides as a service, sustainability, safety, and, perhaps most importantly, affordability were centerpieces of that future. It touched upon the improved experience of mobility, as well as how the service itself and the associated technology implementation would affect the built environment.
Pebble - A Software Defined Travel Trailer - #ces2025
The Pebble Flow is an electric travel trailer designed to eliminate the common hassles associated with camping through advanced technology and a unique hardware platform. Stefan Solyom, Pebble’s CTO, emphasizes that the Pebble Flow is a “software-defined vehicle,” which enables features like remote control parking and automated leveling with the push of a button.
Viodi View - 06/29/25
Inspiration: There is something about a face-to-face event, such as last week’s Broadband Forum Summer Meeting and BASe Technical Summit in Munich, that can inspire new ideas. In this case, it was the discovery of a missing link that could potentially turn an old idea into reality. In this case, it could mean a way to pull data from an existing fiber-to-the-premises network to provide a low-cost earthquake detection system, as an example.
A Travel Trailer for the Electric Age
“We think it’s kind of the perfect travel trailer for The Electric Age, states Ben Parker in the above interview. Parker, co-founder/CPO of Lightship RV, is referencing their debut product, the AE.1, Cosmos Edition Aero-Electric travel trailer. Designed from scratch, the AE.1 is unique because it has batteries and an electric drivetrain. This translates into better fuel economy or range for the towing vehicle.
Viodi View - 05/31/25
Two places at once. It may be a trite phrase, but it would be nice to be in two places at once next week. The first place would be at Anga Com. The BBF and some of its members will be in a booth, as well as speaking on a couple of panels. One must-see panel will feature the BBF’s Tiff Groves, Harmonic’s Pam Gillies, and ACA Connects/Boycom’s Patty Boyers. Although they come from different ends of the world, the wit and wisdom of these women are sure to be insightful and entertaining.
The Remote Tower Opportunity for Rural BSPs
[Note: The inspiration for this article was an online comment from USC economics Professor Matthew Kahn suggesting the Remote Airport Towers could be a work-from-home opportunity. He was commenting on a View from the Wing article suggesting the FAA is missing an opportunity to improve air traffic control and safety. His article is based on a recent report by the Reason Foundation’s Ginger Evan and Marc Scribner.
Automated Inspection for a World of Flying Robots [and those on the ground]
Recent headlines about outdated U.S. Air Traffic Control technologies have raised concerns about the scalability of automated flights, from drones to electric aircraft carrying passengers. However, these challenges are not insurmountable. The FAA, NASA, and industry leaders are actively developing procedures and regulations to manage a sky teeming with flying robots. Amid this transformation, one critical factor remains paramount: ensuring aircraft safety through rigorous inspections.
Viodi View - 04/28/24
Is it possible to ever see the entire picture, particularly when it comes to a person? Slices are all we see and hear. It has been Viodi’s privilege to capture and document small slices of people’s lives. Most of Viodi’s articles and videos deal with the professional aspect of what an individual is doing in the moment. But, as seen in the Korner, the professional and personal in the Viodi circles are often intertwined. Thanks to the Broadband Forum, my employer, for supporting this newsletter.
Is it a Plane? Is it a Ship? It's a Flying Ship
And It Wants to Revolutionize Coastal Cargo Echoing the Soviet “Caspian Sea Monster,” a sleek craft zips over a Caribbean bay at 115 miles per hour, delivering groceries to an island for a fraction of today’s $10–$30/gallon milk prices. It lands on any beach – no port needed – powered by silent electric motors. This is the Flying Ship, a Wing-in-Ground (WIG) vessel revolutionizing coastal logistics. In the above CES Unveiled interview, CEO Bill Peterson unveils this game-changer.
The Architect of the Network, The Narrator of Technological Reckoning
The blurring of humans and machines, the use of technology to improve the human condition, and the dependency of humanity on their inventions are some of the themes of Thomas J.J. Starr’s books. Many might recognize Starr’s name from his leadership in helping to facilitate the spread of one of those inventions: broadband. As he explains in the above interview, when he was Chair of the Broadband Forum, he was figuratively struck with an idea for a story about technology gone amok.
The Endless Spring - 24/7/365 Garden in the Home
“Spring has sprung” denotes the time of year when new growth occurs in the plant world. With Gardyn, every day is the first day of spring, which also means that every day can be peak fall harvest. In the above video, Lindsay Springer, Ph.D., Gardyn’s Director of Plants, Nutrition, and Digital Agriculture, explains how combining hydroponics, LED grow lights, sensors, and AI allows anyone to grow over 100 tasty and nutritious varieties of produce.
Viodi View - 03/29/25
Friendly, safe, and clean: three words that describe Hong Kong. If the pubic transportation system is an indication, then efficient could be added to this list. Of course, with its density, walkable is another adjective that describes the world’s fourth densest city. Despite the relative endless sea of people during the day, at night, it is relatively quiet. Even during the mad rush of prime time, there are spots one can find to get away from the crowds and enjoy a glimpse of nature.
Giving Vehicles Better Vision - Lidar-like Performance at Radar-like Cost
Lawrence D. Burns, PH.D., provides an overview of Neural Propulsion Systems “HROS” technology, a solution that dramatically improves radar resolution and safety capabilities. By leveraging advanced AI and mathematics, NPS unlocks “crystal clear visibility” for automotive and other safety-critical applications.
Viodi View - 02/28/25
The theme of a couple of the articles in this issue of the Viodi View is the integration of human and machine. In both cases, if the machines’ directions are off by just a fraction, it could lead to a bad outcome. A 25-minute conversation with Google’s Gemini inspired the first article. Unfortunately, Gemini did not provide references for what it wrote, so it did not get a promotion from intern to author. Thanks to the Broadband Forum, my employer, for supporting this newsletter.
Generative AI as an Extreme Compression Method
Are text files the future of image and, potentially, video compression? Using text prompts to generate images is well known. But, what about using generative AI in the reverse direction to create a text file prompt for a given image? Using this technique could result in more than 100:1 improvement in file size from hundreds of kilobytes to kilobytes. It is clear from the limited test results shown below, that off-the-shelf generative AI products could achieve this sort of compression improvement.
The Virtual Seeing Eye Dog - Autonomous Tech for Humans
.Lumen has developed a groundbreaking device that could revolutionize the lives of visually impaired people: a virtual seeing-eye dog. The device, worn as a headset, uses technology found in self-driving vehicles (think Nvidia GPU) to guide users around obstacles and to their destinations, both indoors and outdoors. The company was founded by Cornel Amariei, who comes from a family with several members who have disabilities.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Ken
Contact Ken, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack