This is pretty neat , especially when you consider all the sensors already not into an IPhone.
Somebody mentioned the Tricoders of Star Trek fame which is exactly what we are moving too. Obviously this is a ways off but I can see Apple steadily upgrading capabilities as technology advances.
Frankly iPhones camera is already light years ahead of what was imagined on Star Trek. Think about it, you van do movies, stills, bar code reading and other stuff that was never imagined back when thE show first aired. That is just with the camera we already have considerable real world input in the way of the accelerometers and other built in features. All of this without a shoulder slung device.
Now all of that being said I don't see a huge value in a simple air sensing temperature responding device. It would be better to start including remote sensing in the form of an infrared device. Often it is more desirable to know the temperature of a device not within arms reach. Maybe add a spectrometer to the camera too
I need to know what the temperature may be BEFORE I go outside and need to be told to put my jacket on. That's the value of a weather app. If my phone needs to tell me after I go outside to put on my jacket, then I'm too dumb to have bought an iPhone to begin with.
I never said my example was a practical one. As I said, that is an example of what a programmer could use this for in an app. Again, it's up to the imagination of the developer. A more practical example... You tell an app what temperature you are most comfortable with. If it detects that you are out of your comfort zone, it sends a signal to a future smart AC signal with your comfort zone temperature, and it automatically adjusts the temperature to your preference, or average comfort zone temperature if there are other people in the room.
Yes, the fact that these sensors could be available for programming is what's new. For example, an app may use the thermometer and have SIRI remind you to put a jacket on if it's a certain temperature. The air pressure sensor could be used to help calculate your exact elevation. For example, a GPS app would be able to tell you if you're on the correct floor and to go up or down if you're not. Combine that with iBeacon and an app could even direct you to an elevator and tell you what button to press. In the future, there could be smart elevators and your phone may simply send the elevator a signal to tell it what floor to take you to.
But these sensors are already in use on other phones too. Whether Siri wants to recommend a jacket is irrelevant. Cool idea about using the barometer to determine what floor you're on though.
I am old enough to remember the introduction of the Walkman which never had the popularity or the distraction power of today's mobile devices. You listened to music on a Walkman, your only interaction was to press stop and play. TV is and always has been a passive distraction and until recently people didn't watch TV while walking down the street, eating in a good restaurant or behind the wheel of a car. Mobile devices which promise us a way to connect to others only has the opposite affect. There is not social moment today that is not interrupted by someone answering a call, text or an impromptu photo session. I've seen people in mid conversation turn away to text something on their phones. As for my comment about great thinkers. Would Newton have had his revelation about gravity if he was distracted updating his Facebook status? Would the kind of concentration needed to create the theory of relativity come from Einstein tweeting his friends? To create something, quiet and deep thought is absolutely necessary despite Apple's ads suggesting pointing your phone at something and you are a genius.
That has to do with focus, not with technology generating CDO* in society. There is definitely more "noise" in society than every better but it's not OCD. This is something that happens with each generation and yet we still people making breakthroughs in science. We learn to adapt and most of find our passions; which can be an obsession in and of itself but one that is typically seen as passive. I like to use Fraunhofer as example of an unhealthy obsession that can lead lead to massive ethnological breakthroughs later on. I think it comes down to teaching our children how to manage their time properly which means the onus fails on the parental units, not a convenient technology.
* CDO** is like OCD except the letters are in the proper, alphabetical order¡
** That is not the original author.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kerryb
People that are likely addicted to checking their phones every 30 seconds to see if they are missing something, a text, email, Facebook update, whatever.... Will most likely carry that obsession over to the rumored "iWatch" device by checking the pulse rate, how many steps and calories they have burnt so far and any other non-critical nonsense this device serves up. Why so cranky? Look how a generation has lost the ability to live without an electronic device in hand at all times. Almost no moment of the average day is used for reflection and deep thought. Where will this generations great thinkers come from when the distraction of listening to music, texting, web surfing, taking pictures of your breakfast, lunch and dinner completely occupy your day?
This leads to a greater philosophical question: as we have explored most of the earth and recorded so much genius, where do we find the incentive to make something new or amazing? It becomes harder with each generation.
Take music: there are only so many combinations of thirteen notes. Man has been weaving its magic on them for hundreds of years, but at what point do we run out of ideas? Maybe there's a natural timespan for its evolution and we're nearing the end. What then? Do we roll over and die? Does it matter? Or do we live perpetually on past glories?
Comments
Somebody mentioned the Tricoders of Star Trek fame which is exactly what we are moving too. Obviously this is a ways off but I can see Apple steadily upgrading capabilities as technology advances.
Frankly iPhones camera is already light years ahead of what was imagined on Star Trek. Think about it, you van do movies, stills, bar code reading and other stuff that was never imagined back when thE show first aired. That is just with the camera we already have considerable real world input in the way of the accelerometers and other built in features. All of this without a shoulder slung device.
Now all of that being said I don't see a huge value in a simple air sensing temperature responding device. It would be better to start including remote sensing in the form of an infrared device. Often it is more desirable to know the temperature of a device not within arms reach. Maybe add a spectrometer to the camera too
I never said my example was a practical one. As I said, that is an example of what a programmer could use this for in an app. Again, it's up to the imagination of the developer. A more practical example... You tell an app what temperature you are most comfortable with. If it detects that you are out of your comfort zone, it sends a signal to a future smart AC signal with your comfort zone temperature, and it automatically adjusts the temperature to your preference, or average comfort zone temperature if there are other people in the room.
Yes, the fact that these sensors could be available for programming is what's new. For example, an app may use the thermometer and have SIRI remind you to put a jacket on if it's a certain temperature. The air pressure sensor could be used to help calculate your exact elevation. For example, a GPS app would be able to tell you if you're on the correct floor and to go up or down if you're not. Combine that with iBeacon and an app could even direct you to an elevator and tell you what button to press. In the future, there could be smart elevators and your phone may simply send the elevator a signal to tell it what floor to take you to.
But these sensors are already in use on other phones too. Whether Siri wants to recommend a jacket is irrelevant. Cool idea about using the barometer to determine what floor you're on though.
@solipsismx 04/24/2014 10:09 AM
I am old enough to remember the introduction of the Walkman which never had the popularity or the distraction power of today's mobile devices. You listened to music on a Walkman, your only interaction was to press stop and play. TV is and always has been a passive distraction and until recently people didn't watch TV while walking down the street, eating in a good restaurant or behind the wheel of a car. Mobile devices which promise us a way to connect to others only has the opposite affect. There is not social moment today that is not interrupted by someone answering a call, text or an impromptu photo session. I've seen people in mid conversation turn away to text something on their phones. As for my comment about great thinkers. Would Newton have had his revelation about gravity if he was distracted updating his Facebook status? Would the kind of concentration needed to create the theory of relativity come from Einstein tweeting his friends? To create something, quiet and deep thought is absolutely necessary despite Apple's ads suggesting pointing your phone at something and you are a genius.
I agree.
That has to do with focus, not with technology generating CDO* in society. There is definitely more "noise" in society than every better but it's not OCD. This is something that happens with each generation and yet we still people making breakthroughs in science. We learn to adapt and most of find our passions; which can be an obsession in and of itself but one that is typically seen as passive. I like to use Fraunhofer as example of an unhealthy obsession that can lead lead to massive ethnological breakthroughs later on. I think it comes down to teaching our children how to manage their time properly which means the onus fails on the parental units, not a convenient technology.
* CDO** is like OCD except the letters are in the proper, alphabetical order¡
** That is not the original author.
People that are likely addicted to checking their phones every 30 seconds to see if they are missing something, a text, email, Facebook update, whatever.... Will most likely carry that obsession over to the rumored "iWatch" device by checking the pulse rate, how many steps and calories they have burnt so far and any other non-critical nonsense this device serves up. Why so cranky? Look how a generation has lost the ability to live without an electronic device in hand at all times. Almost no moment of the average day is used for reflection and deep thought. Where will this generations great thinkers come from when the distraction of listening to music, texting, web surfing, taking pictures of your breakfast, lunch and dinner completely occupy your day?
This leads to a greater philosophical question: as we have explored most of the earth and recorded so much genius, where do we find the incentive to make something new or amazing? It becomes harder with each generation.
Take music: there are only so many combinations of thirteen notes. Man has been weaving its magic on them for hundreds of years, but at what point do we run out of ideas? Maybe there's a natural timespan for its evolution and we're nearing the end. What then? Do we roll over and die? Does it matter? Or do we live perpetually on past glories?