Alex Hertel (Intuit) on Mixing Bits and Atoms within the World Computer

The Guest

Alex Hertel is the former co-founder and CEO of Xperial, and currently an inventor at Intuit where he is a director in their Futures group.

Alex completed his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Toronto and is an expert in no-code languages as well as the use of immersive technologies to make the physical world digitally interactive.

After his PhD program, he co-founded Walleto, which was acquired by Google and became Google Wallet. After several years at Google, he left to become the co-founder and CEO of Xperiel, where he helped to create a user-friendly programming language called “Pebbles” with the goal of democratizing AR and IoT programming in order to connect the Internet to the physical world.

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Alex Hertel

LinkedIn

Intuit

The Conversation

In this conversation, Alex explains how he applied his research to a concept he calls the “world computer” and how it relates to computing paradigms of the past. He sees the roles of displays being replaced by AR glasses, and our computing peripherals being replaced by the many internet-connected devices around us.

Alex goes on to describe how a new no-code language can make the process of creating AR experiences more accessible. He also describes lessons learned through his two entrepreneurial experiences and the benefits of now being an inventor in Intuit’s Futures Group.

Jason McDowallcontent creation, AR Cloud, consumer