The Update: Blues, Buoys, and Bank Failure

Keeping an active internal discussion about the things that interest us at Geocene builds trust and makes it easier to have conversations about harder topics. I summarize our most interesting internal discussions for this newsletter, so you can be a part of our community too. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

• We partnered with Sofar Ocean’s engineering team to develop a next-generation IoT ocean buoy. In addition to satellite connectivity, the next-generation buoys will include cellular connectivity. Geocene embedded with Sofar’s engineering team to integrate a Blues Notecard cellular module to enable near-shore buoys to use affordable, fast, and available cellular coverage.

A Sofar Spotter Buoy being deployed in the ocean. Sometimes we’re jealous of our clients and photos like these are often the cause.

• Speaking of Blues, we are now an official integration partner! The folks at Geocene are the ones to call if, like Sofar, you want Blues built into your product. I met their CEO, Ray Ozzie, at CES this year. I was starstruck. The guy was Chief Software Architect at Microsoft when Bill Gates left the role. Today, he could be an in-the-clouds investor, but instead he’s in the weeds. He was working the floor of their booth at CES, talking technical details of their products with anyone who cared to chat.

A Blues Notecard with nifty M.2 connector and oh-so-many handy features. These things help us build IoT products in weeks instead of months.

• In February, startups raised the lowest amount of VC funding in 3 years, but we started to see signs of a positive change in mood. The way people were talking by the end of February felt like a thaw, maybe representative of a turnaround in the markets. Then SVB. Garry Tan of Y Combinator called it an “extinction level event” for startups, and we felt that in our community. We’re thankful that things appear to be back on the rails. I think Apricitas Economics does a good job explaining what happened.
   
• AI, AI, AI. When our banks are not imploding like dying stars, AI is all anyone is talking about. A common use case is in solving big questions, but what about using it to do a better job of asking them? Also, Jascha Sohl-Dickstein suggests that AI might end up being a hot mess, just like… erm… normal intelligence. As entities become more intelligent, he points out, they often become less coherent. It reminds us that the way big technologies change the world is rarely the way we expect when they’re first announced.
   
• Our EEs are always searching for better and cheaper debugging tools, so they’re excited about the new Raspberry Pi ARM debugger, but they still love their Black Magic Probe.