David L. Rose (born February 19, 1967) is a product designer and entrepreneur, and the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Clearwater AR.

Early life

Rose was born on February 19, 1967, in

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

l. Rose graduated from

Madison West High School Madison West High School is a grade 9-12 public high school in Madison, Wisconsin, operated by the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). The school was founded in 1930. It is one of the five high schools in MMSD, and serves students from th ...

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

in 1985 and obtained a BA in Physics and Fine Arts from

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and th ...

in 1989. He then went on to earn his master's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, in which he focused on technology in education, graduating in 1992.

Career

Rose established the company ''Interactive Factory'' in 1992 after gaining experience as a

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

in speech recognition and

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

. The company, now known as
iFactory
', operates as a division of ''RDW Group'' and its specialized in digital and interactive media as a boutique design firm. After Interactive Factory's acquisition in 1997, Rose patented the first online photo-sharing service and founded Opholio. The start-up was acquired by Flashpoint Technology in 1998.Rose later established ''Viant's Innovation Center'', where he served as director for four years. FotoMedia ended up with Rose's online photo-sharing patent. Rose criticized the company for "hoarding and non-operating of the technology," claiming FotoMedia was a

Patent troll In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...

, but the accusations were denied. In 2002, Rose co-founded

Ambient Devices Ambient Devices, Inc. is a privately held company founded in 2001 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA that designs and markets various ambient devices for display of information ranging from weather to traffic reports to stock quotes. The ...

, a spin-off from the MIT Media Lab and a pioneer in embedding Internet information in everyday objects. One of Rose's inventions was the Ambient Orb. The company went on to develop over a dozen internet-connected objects, including the Ambient Umbrella, the Ambient Dashboard, the 5-day Weather Forecaster, and the Energy Joule. In 2008, Rose founded Vitality, a high-tech healthcare startup where he conceived and led the development of the GlowCap, the first cellular-connected pill cap. The product was a recipient of the 2010 Medical Design Excellence Awards. Vitality was acquired in 2011 by

biotech Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

investor

Patrick Soon-Shiong Patrick Soon-Shiong (born July 29, 1952) is a South African and American businessman, investor, medical researcher, and transplant surgeon. He is the inventor of the drug Abraxane, which is used for lung, breast, and pancreatic cancer. Soon-S ...

and rolled into

NantHealth NantHealth, Inc. is a provider of software solutions for the healthcare industry, including NaviNet for insurance companies and decision support systems targeted at healthcare. The publicly traded company is headquartered in Winterville, North ...

. Rose was the founder and CEO of Ditto Labs, a

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

-based startup focused on image-recognition software. In July 2014, Rose published a book about The Internet of Things called ''Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things''. Rose argues that the cell phone monopolizes attention and that there is an opportunity to unglue society from these screens by spreading apps into everyday objects like clothing, jewelry, and rooms. In 2017, Rose was a

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

IDEO IDEO () is a design firm, design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 500 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environmen ...

, where he worked with a team to design and prototype

gesture A gesture is a form of nonverbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or othe ...

-based interactions and developed computer vision technology for people to perform one and two-handed gestures to control light and sound in the environment. Rose filmed dancers,

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that i ...

teachers,

mimes A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a theatrical medium o ...

, and an

orchestra conductor Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties o ...

to learn about the communicative power of subtle gestures. Rose was the VP of Vision Technology at

Warby Parker Warby Parker Inc. is an American eyewear brand and retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, based in New York City. Founded in 2010, it was initially an online-only retailer. It now receives (about two-thirds) of its r ...

from 2017 to 2019. Where he also lectured at the MIT Media Lab.He worked with the Tangible Media and City Science groups and taught a course called "Enchanted Architecture." In 2020, Rose co-founded LOOKOUT, where he serves as CEO. LOOKOUT developed the first

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

navigation experience for situational awareness and safe boating. Rose also served as the Chief Technology Officer and advisor for Home Outside, an AI landscape design service. Home Outside uses computer vision and scene segmentation on aerial and street view images to automatically redesign residential landscapes to improve sustainability, home value, and curb appeal. Homeowners type in their address, then visualize and walk through their newly designed yard in augmented reality. Rose is also a Forbes contributor.

Personal life

Rose lives in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

with his wife and two children.

Early life

Career

Personal life

References

External links