Hans Peter Brøndmo (born 22 June 1962) is an American-Norwegian computer scientist and technology entrepreneur. In 2016 he became vice president at
X (formerly Google
and general manager of the Everyday Robots project. He previously worked at Apple Computer on
Hypercard
HyperCard is a software application and development kit for Apple Macintosh and Apple IIGS computers. It is among the first successful hypermedia systems predating the World Wide Web.
HyperCard combines a flat-file database with a graphical, f ...
development, founded startups in online marketing and social media and held executive positions at
Nokia Corporation
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
and
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
.
Early life and education
Brøndmo was born in Waterville, Maine, but moved before the age of one to Norway where he grew up outside of the town of
Hønefoss
__NOTOC__
Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2008 ...
, northwest of Oslo. He was educated in public schools and served a year in the Norwegian military before returning to the United States to study computer science at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. While at MIT he interned as a research associate at
CERN and enrolled in the Masters program in the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Technology and Policy Program. Brøndmo was part of MIT's Interactive Cinema research group, an early effort in interactive video story telling led by
Glorianna Davenport
Glorianna Davenport is a New York-born media maker. A co-founder of the MIT Media Lab, Davenport directed the Interactive cinema research group from 1987–2004 and the Media Fabrics research group from 2004-2008. Davenport retired from the Massa ...
. He is credited with inventing a type of animated computer graphics icon known as a Micon, or “motion icon” described in the 1990 BBC documentary “
Hyperland
''Hyperland'' is a 50-minute-long documentary film about hypertext and surrounding technologies. It was written by Douglas Adams and produced and directed by Max Whitby for BBC Two in 1990. It stars Douglas Adams as a computer user and Tom Baker, ...
” written by Douglas Adams.
Career
After completing his undergraduate degree, in 1987 Brondmo co-founded Snappy Software, an expert systems software company with seed funding from Apple Computer. The following year he joined Apple Computer and worked on the company's Hypercard program from Japan. In 1990 he co-founded DIVA, or Digital Video Applications Corp., based in Cambridge, MA, where he served as the company's engineering director. Diva, which was the first commercial spin-off from Media Lab, developed a Macintosh-based video editing program known as VideoShop and was acquired by
Avid Technology
Avid Technology is an American technology and multimedia company based in Burlington, Massachusetts, and founded in August 1987 by Bill Warner. It specialises in audio and video; specifically, digital non-linear editing (NLE) systems, video edi ...
in 1993. Brondmo became an entrepreur-in-residence at Mohr Davidow Ventures. In 1997 he founded Post Communications which offered customized email marketing services, distinguished by giving the recipient control over the flow of marketing information.
Post Communications was later sold to online marketing company, Netcentives. In 2002, he published "The Engaged Customer: The New Rules of Internet Direct Marketing".
Brondmo went on to start Plum Ventures in 2005, a social networking service intended for small groups of friends and family. In the fall of 2009 Plum was acquired by the mapping division of Nokia. At Nokia he led a project team to reinvent the camera in the age of smartphones. The product was not commercialized after Nokia sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft. In 2013, he co-taught a class on computational photography at the MIT Media Lab. In 2016 Brondmo was hired by Google X to help the company reorganize its efforts in robotics. He now leads the Everyday Robot project at X.
Books and articles
* Brondmo, Hans Peter. ''The Engaged Customer: The New Rules of Internet Direct Marketing''. United Kingdom: Piatkus, 2002.
* https://www.wired.com/2017/03/how-i-stopped-trying-to-upgrade-my-life/
* https://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-do-you-beat-iphone/
Congressional testimony
* Congressional testimony on internet privacy
* Congressional testimony on email spam
Patents
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brondmo, Hans Peter
1962 births
American computer scientists
American computer businesspeople
American technology company founders
Google people
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
MIT Media Lab people
Living people