brutal clarity: Krishnan Menon on Marketing

Monday, May 23, 2005

A Simple Life

Have you noticed how much technology we use every day? I’ve started to take comfort in my devices, and ponder about how it helps my day. The future’s here, and we’re living by its decree. Can you separate fact from fiction?
Posted by krishnan on 05/23 at 03:22 PM
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5:00AM - my alarm goes off. I reach down below my bed, grab my <a href="http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/latit_x300?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb">laptop</a> fresh-charged with overnight electricity, tremble involuntarily at the speedy progress bar that flickers through a silver screen screaming static saying softly, “Resuming <a href="http://www.microsoft.com">Windows</a>."


I check my <a href="http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html">RSS feeds</a>, catch up on the latest in my blog reading list, trundle over to the <a href="http://www.bittorrent.com/introduction.html">Bit Torrent</a> sites that have the latest episodes of international TV shows that <a href="http://www.comcast.com">Comcast Digital Cable</a> doesn’t get, and while they download, open the secure web page that controls several of my household appliances, and turn on the coffee maker. Using the same <a href="http://hometoys.com/htinews/apr04/articles/prosyst/eneo.htm">appliance control center</a>, I turn off my night-lights, and turn on the A/C, because the weather section of my <a href="http://www.google.com/ig">personalized Google home page</a> tells me that its going to be a hot one.


I make the bed, grab my coffee, and turn on the TV while I make myself some instant oatmeal. The phone rings in the middle of an interesting bit of news, so I use my <a href="http://www.tivo.com">TiVo</a> remote to pause the story, and I press “talk” on the <a href="http://www.jabra.com/JabraCMS/NA/EN/MainMenu/Products/WirelessSpeakerphone/JabraSP100/JabraSP100.htm">Bluetooth speaker phone</a> system that’s centrally hooked into my apartment, with receivers and mikes that let me talk freely from just about anywhere, while noise-supressors weed out anything that’s not in the general range of my voice, so the person on the other end can clearly hear what I’m saying.


It’s <a href="http://www.ual.com">United Airlines</a> calling to tell me (using an automated voice that I’ve come to know as Sheila) that my flight this morning to Frankfurt has been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties, but that I’ve been rebooked on a codeshare Lufthansa flight an hour later, and that my upgrade has been confirmed on this flight as well. Immediately after she hangs up, Wildfire, my <a href="http://www.virtuosity.com">electronic assistant</a>, calls to tell me that because my flight has been moved, she has re-scheduled <a href="http://www.bostoncoach.com">Boston Coach’s</a> pickup at the Frankfurt airport.


I continue with my news story, finish my oatmeal and coffee, and make my way over to my bathroom. There, the TV has a message which says that my Xbox has finished downloading the latest DivX of Julian Sanders, my current favorite British show, from Bit Torrent. I debate watching it, but decide that I’ll get to the airport early and get some work done in the lounge. I shave, and when I place my Remington shaver back in its dock, it lights up with a cleaning message, and proceeds to clean the blades and razor instantly.


Before leaving the house, I use the desktop computer to check in on my S430’s status, because I haven’t driven it in a few days. The system tells me that the rear passenger tire needs air. I <a href="http://www.37signals.com/better/motors/after.html">set the car to expect me as the next driver</a>, and make my way to the garage.

 

At the airport, I check in electronically using a United Kiosk, and make my way through security check and down to the Red Carpet Club in Terminal B. My <a href="http://www.kensington.com/html/5703.html">keychain</a> instantly buzzes once I’m inside, indicating that a friendly wireless network has been found, and that I can log on. I swipe my <a href="http://travel2.nytimes.com/mem/travel/article-page.html?res=9C00E0D81230F933A25756C0A9639C8B63">Global Services card</a> through the reader by the front desk, which has been Web-set up to SMS me when boarding is announced for my flight. I settle down into a leather chair across from the TV, open up my laptop, and continue reading through news and my email. I notice that the TV is stuck on a horrible channel, and really want CNN. I use my <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/5a7b/">remote-control watch</a> to surreptitiously scan for the TV’s band, and when it finds it, keep changing channels until I’m on CNN, much to the astonishment of a man absently staring at the screen.


Ninety minutes later, I’m on the flight, and I pull out my <a href="http://www.kensington.com/html/1961.html">airplane charging adapter</a> from my briefcase, and the USB charger for my cell phone. Once airborne, I plug my laptop into the charging console, and plug my phone into the USB port of the computer. I use Lufthansa’s <a href="http://portal.lufthansa.com/online/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_4TEU?cID=6_0_SEF&nID=7_0_4TEJ&l=en&nodeid=1144212">FlyNet</a> to connect to the Internet, and when I’m online, decide that its time to send my wife a message in India. It’s almost bed-time for her, and while I don’t want to spend $10 per minute on a satellite phone call, I do want to wish her goodnight. So, I open up <a href="http://messenger.yahoo.com">Yahoo! Messenger</a>, and use the Net-to-Mobile feature to send an instant message directly to my wife’s cellular phone, using SMS. “Sweet dreams, honey,” I say. “My world isn’t the same without you in it. Come home soon.”


I might as well have written that message to technology.


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Monday, May 23, 2005

A Simple Life

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