Wii Controller Hacker Johnny Lee Joins Barrett at IDF

Intel Chairman Craig Barrett kicked off the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) aka “Geekfest” in San Francisco this morning with his opening keynote on the use of technology to advance social and economic growth around the world. If you’re like me and have been at nearly every IDF for the last 8 years, this was a refreshing change to the usual technical keynote line up from our executives. Don’t get me wrong… I, too, like to see the roadmaps for future products and hear more about all of the techy details behind the products, but this morning we got to see a different side of Intel and the tech industry.

Barrett has talked for a couple of years now about the critical importance of education and the need for more government support of and advancing math and science education, especially here in the U.S. This morning he explained how education and research & development are critical toward spurring more technology innovation. Simply put, to fix a lot of our world’s problems, we need more innovation and to get more innovation, we need more (and better) education and R&D.

I was particularly impressed by one of the guests Barrett had on stage with him this morning – Johnny Lee. Johnny, who just got his PhD in human computer interaction from Carnegie Mellon, is YouTube famous for the various videos of his innovative use of a large piece of whiteboard and a Nintendo Wii remote control. Johnny’s belief is that anyone can innovate. His message to the thousands of developers in the audience? Share your innovation and don’t get too hung up on the performance or being the fastest, most powerful application. Sometimes it’s the simplest innovation that can solve the most critical problems.

My colleague Kiesha Cochrane found Johnny outside the Upload Lounge just after the keynote to ask him about his work and the REAL story behind how he hacked into the Wii controller. Check it out.