Phones: our predictive pals, who are fun to be with

Our phones are becoming predictive tools, telling us what we need to know, before we know we need to know it. What implications does that have?

Here’s a fun little video the Wall Street Journal did last summer:

Clearly the release of Android and iOS that have happened in the intervening months have brought us a step further towards this vision of the future. But this idea of smart, personal devices that don’t just store our information, but actively alert us to things we might want to know is clearly a bit part of the future of devices.

Mirror, smart mirror on the wall…

Why am I coming back to this video now? Well, think of it in context of yesterday’s smart mirror post. I’m shaving in my smart mirror – and it’s not just showing me my reminders and messages, it’s alerting me to things I might need to know. For example, yesterday a big storm hit the UK, and if I’d been commuting to London, there’s a fair chance I’d have been late.

A smart mirror, though, would have known (via my phone) that I was scheduled to be in London that morning, and that there were disruptions on the network. It could have warned me with time to either skip breakfast – or call and rearrange.

Proactivity starts to really change what tech can do for us – but passive screens make it pervasive.