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What the tech? 2 (rather obvious) upcoming tech revolutions

In the last few weeks, tech giant Google has, to a drooling crowd of tech hungry enthusiasts, announced its upcoming 'wearable tech' escapade that has been rather aptly named 'google glass'. Spotted early by those travelling with Sergei Brin on the subway, the Internet exploded with noise about the new google product and led to questions about the future of wearable tech in general. 

"...Google Glass opens an entirely new front in the digital war against privacy. These spectacles, which have been specifically designed to record everything we see, represent a developmental leap in the history of data that is comparable to moving from the bicycle to the automobile."

Andrew Keen - Special to CNN

Thinking about wearable Tech, I hadn't really ever disassociated Technology with it's requirement to be 'wearable', or as you could look at it, 'portable'. Any piece of Tech that is deemed 'portable' really is 'wearable', look at the range of 'old western' holsters for mobiles, or arm straps for Ipods. The requirement has always been there - but Tech firms have never successfully transferred the 'wearable' aspect as one of the USP's of any tech product. 

Fine; this last point isn't exactly true. One of the most widely developed and successful areas for Wearable tech has been the smart watch market. With the Pebble watch being developed and back by investors on Kickstarter, it's clear that the smart-watch is likely to become the next big thing, rather than the glasses offering by google. There are two pretty identifiable reasons for this. Firstly, people who haven't worn glasses before, in my opinion, will find it tricky to adopt this tech, as well as prescription wearers, unless Google decide to offer prescription lenses with the Glass offering. This leads aptly onto my second point - watches are way more adoptable and most people already see their watch as an essential piece of tech. Whilst advances in watches from a tech perspective have been popular but fairly minimal (with GPS etc. being some of the examples of watch/tech crossover), it wouldn't be surprising to see tech watches taking the market by storm over the next few years. 

The potential for Tech watches really is there; whether it be enabled as a controller for a smart phone, or as an independent piece of kit. I'd love to see the concept designs being thrown around at the moment realised into real products; complete wrap around watches with touch screens or even wrist-screens which provide a bigger surface area. In terms of what the consumer wants, I can guess a lot more people would be comfortable walking around with a smart watch, than with a pair of glasses on. 

The second revolution (and one which is born from every sci-fi/action film from the last decade) will likely be around the appearance and wider adoption of 'smart surfaces'. Most people could take a guess at what a smart surface would offer; see the MI6 headquarters in Skyfall to get a great visualisation of what a table computer with wall screen looks like. But how far off could this kind of technology be? The great thing is, not that long, not least by looking at how PC's are developing alongside various other technologies which support a generic 'smart surface' market. Most PC's on the market now regard touch-screen as the must have feature (similar to when Webcams were the must-have), so it would make sense to see coffee tables, kitchen work-tops, even fridge doors becoming utilised for smart surface technology. Smart surfaces can truly become smart; they can recognise us and our devices on the surface, with wireless charging and automatic data sync just a few ideas being passed around at the moment. 

Connected tech is becoming available everywhere; you either take it with you to stay connected, or you know you can become connected where-ever you are headed for. At the moment, portable tech is king; mobiles, tablets etc are dominating the consumer conscience. But smart surfaces offer something new; if most homes/cafes/hotels had  smart surfaces, you know you could leave home and pick up where you left off once you arrive. Cloud data could support the transition of your personal data to any surface, automatically transferred by recognising your smartphone placed on the surface. I think this technology should be seen as the Payphone for computers; the opportunities to mix technology with surfaces, large or small, I believe will become increasingly important.

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New Beginnings

I've been really crap with this blog over the last 6 months; so I've decided to re-prioritise my efforts into posting once a week, on any of the following topic areas:

technology in society

responsive web design 

the evolving consumer experience

I've chosen these three areas as they are interesting to me personally and will all be applicable to both my personal and work life. Whether or not they are interesting to anyone else remains to be seen! 

R

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why I'm annoyed by the iPhone 5 release

I'm certainly not someone who you could call "anti-apple". Since 4 years ago, I've owned a mac laptop, I owned the iphone 3G and have loved these devices through thick and thin. But my mindset towards Apple has somewhat changed over these last 4 years and is driven home by the iPhone 5 release. 

Let me explain a little about the issues I have developed with Apple; some are admittedly petty, some are more widely felt. Firstly, I stopped visiting Apple stores pretty much after the first 4 visits I paid to one. I could not deal with the customer service; not the lack of it, but the tone of it. I felt like I was being lectured by someone who was infinitely ostentatious and tech savvy than me, simply because they had donned a blue t-shirt and wore the weirdest employee lanyard I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a superiority thing; I'm sure an awful lot of people know an awful lot more than me about tech, but it was the way in which the employee's were so sickly pretentious and confident in their products, that's what left a sour taste in my mouth. Not to mention the bouncy, self-possessed manager I saw during my last visit, who was bounding around the store with his iPad, apologising to people who had been waiting 30 seconds for their appointment with the Genius Bar. And this isn't even getting onto the Genius Bar proper. My last run in with the Geniuses left me sure I never wanted to step foot into an Apple store again. I won't even begin to explain that story. Let's just say its the worst bar I've ever been to, and that's saying something. 

But back to the last straw. It's a pretty big straw for me.  We've all seen the new iPhone 5 released last night. We've all seen the nice release on the Apple website. Some of us will have watched Jonathon Ive talking in that oh so smooth voice of his about how this phone has revolutionised the iphone that changed everything, again, again. Even fewer would have sat down and watched the Keynote, with Tim Cook resuming his task of filling in for the late Mr. Jobs. Let's get one thing straight. I know how these companies make money and they don't make money by cramming everything they have into one basket. But I've just watched Apple sue the shit out of Samsung for stealing their technology and design ideas. Apple has an affinity with design and futuristic technology that nobody can ever take away from them; not even Samsung. So we look upon the newly released iPhone and wonder; where the hell is NFC? Where is the wireless charging? What on earth is this new hole on the bottom? Didn't Jony Ive just say "We don't want to just make a new phone, we want to make a much better phone" ?. 

To me, all of these things say very clearly to me "hey consumer, go fuck yourself". £500, base model. Not a surprise, we all know the cost of Apple products and we happily pay our pennies for it because we believe it's innovative and well designed. But when we come to the iPhone 5, we're looking at a device which is taller and prettier to look at than it's predecessor, but my god, is it lacking some serious beans on the technology front. My job involves me partially in the payments world, more recently, as with most things, it's involved me in mobile payments. NFC, whether the futurologists want to accept it or not, is going to have an imminent crack at becoming the next biggest payment method for mobile. But this bold move from Apple to not include NFC technology inside their iPhone makes me think one thing and one thing only: "if everyone else has it, then we won't". It's probably going to be defended to the hills by Apple fanatics, but to me, the exclusion of NFC is more ideological than practical.

And then there is the port. This really is the straw that broke the camels back. Three basic facts: new port for charging/ plugging in peripheral devices, new cable, adapter cost for plugging into old port devices: £25. £25! Now some will shout, HEY DON'T WORRY, China will be saving our skins with the £2.50 version from eBay in 2 weeks time. But it's not the point. It's another example where Apple have seemingly changed something for all the wrong reasons. There undoubtably will be excuses as to why that port is different; more room for other things etc, like the wireless charging tech or the NFC loop..(sarcasm). But charging £25 for the cable (similar to the price of other Apple adapter cables) is just a massive FU to the consumer in my opinion. It really is.  

Go and listen to Jony Ive's video on the new iPhone. "It's probably the device you have with you all the time". It's subsequently true for the old iPhone. And all your peripheral devices are ready for your iPhone. All your speakers, docks, in car charging, . But now, unless you want to buy all that kit again, you'll need to carry around your new iPhone 5 and always have the adapter. 

It's fair to say that I will be sticking with the Apple products I've been blessed to own. I have no qualms with them and never will. But Apple to me has become too attached to its unique way of doing things. Steve's way. I used to love it, but ways of behaving are surely limited to a time scale; a time that has passed. It's become irritating. It's become alienating. And it's making me worry for Apple's image, even though they won't be worrying about me. Images like the below.