Technology in the palm of our hands - or are we in its?
Something happened to me last night, something that has changed my life. It's a change for the worse, but it will hopefully only be for a short time. It was not a change that really should even register as a change, or impact my life one way or the other beyond a minor inconvenience. But I'm being held to ransom you see. Have been for a long time, and with countless others.
Last night, my smartphone got "bricked". Through a simple firmware update (as recommended by the manufacturers and OS providers, and following their explicit instructions) my phone became irretrievably corrupted and now shows only the black screen of death. I have yet to find out about my chances of a replacement.
Like I said, it's not something that should have any real effect on my day to day life. After all it is only a phone, and to be perfectly honest I rarely phone people on it as we now have so many ways to leave messages without the pressure of conversing or making split second decisions on whether we are or are not free that weekend for something we'd rather not do anyway. But nonetheless while watching Biggest Loser last night with my wife, I glance over and she's just taken her own smartphone off the arm of the couch.She's checking her Facebook, or Googling one of the past contestants or something, and I can't help but be ticked off that I can't do the same. You know how it is in these modern times. It used to be that when the adverts came on we would get up and use the time to make a cuppa, or go to the loo. Nowadays when the adverts come on (if that's even an issue if we've sensibly sky+ the show, even to start watching it ten minutes past the real-time start time) many of us use those minutes to check in with the world and see how she's doing, even though half the time we don't really care much about what she has to say, or even more likely we actually really want to know if anyone else cared about the thing we last said on Twitter or Facebook; or indeed ironically I suppose, our blogs.
It's that inability to access anything and everything without the strenuous effort of climbing the stairs to check on the desktop computer in my study. We don't yet have a tablet in the hopes of avoiding that very conflict. We don't want to get to the point where we no longer get up to see something on a good sized screen, however much we might actually already be there by straining our eyes and using tiny taps to utilise the browsers on our already impressively sized Samsung Galaxy S's. And my frustration this morning at not being able to bring my phone to life and immediately be alerted to any e-mails that may have arrived during the night, or to check my Amazon.co.uk rankings for Secret of the Nexus (something else that has become a bit obsessive of late as I endlessly wonder how well my work is being received by my fellow Brits) is what tweaked me to the inescapable fact that technology in my life has rendered my need for it, well... inescapable. The key, really, i the upgrades, updates, and new versions necessary to keep up with the world and to have your base unit (be it your TV, phone, tablet etc) be able to handle anything new that enters its digital realm. My "bricking" for instance was the result of the Samsung apps app (which cannot be uninstalled) constantly crashing even though I don't use it, and sending my phone into a freeze until the error message pops up to tell me its crashed. So I rather sensibly thought that the latest version of my firmware might hold within its code a bug fix for this (as updating the apps app had done nothing to remedy the situation). Clearly not the case, and now I have a shiny plastic brick that I'm still six months away from upgrading from (and there's the magic, all enslaving word again - upgrade).
A couple of years ago it was almost a design requirement of mobile phone batteries that they get to the point within a year where there barely hold a half day charge. This would force you into frustration and subsequent costly early upgrade (or more substantial upgrade when actual upgrade time comes around) at not being able to check your messages, make a call or take a photo for the latter half of your day once you'd left the house where your life giving charger resides. Now however they have moved on to making the operating systems and apps the thing that must be constantly improved to allow your phone or tablet to stand a chance at even connecting to your own at-home wifi, let alone effectively buffering a Youtube video without making it seem like your "smartphone" is running off a 56K modem from 1995. If I haven't updated my OS now, the Facebook app I just updated will crash or go slow as an expression at its imagined slight at being paired with such an antiquated operating system as Froyo when it should be soaking up the speed of Gingerbread.
I saw an advert on telly the other day for a new type of TV - the Samusung smartTV. And oh what a clever little bugger it is. It is essentially a combination of a huge version of a smartphone, the xbox Kinect tech, and a built in webcam. You can swipe from your couch, browse the web, skype your nan (it is amazing how many nan's nowadays have skype and webcams and are more computer literate than my buddy in IT management - maybe TV is playing with me a little there?) and zoom in on images (oh, and watch TV). Once you realise it's a combo of several existing and very commonplace technologies, you then wonder how it is only just coming out when we're on the 5th or 6th iphone, Kinect has been out for three or more years, and webcams are now HD as standard. But still, I want one. Even though I know full well I hardly need another reason to not have to even lean forward to pick the remote up off the coffee table, I want one. Just the idea of being able to walk into the room and gesture magically at the telly and have it obey my commands... awesome in its promise. Add in the to mix the new voice recognition of the iphone where it can quite happily stalk your brother for you when you can't be arsed to look for them in a crowd yourself simply by asking it the question "where's my brother", and we're one step away from just telling the TV what to do without that terrible effort of moving our hands.
There is an upside to being so dependent on technology. I strive harder now to exercise and eat better to make up for all the ease of everyday life due to technology. But still, with the rate of improvement and advancement in technology, we seem only a few obese footed steps away from becoming the carefree and cuddly humans from Wall-E.
Someone fetch me my hoverboard! (Those aren't far off, right?)
Last night, my smartphone got "bricked". Through a simple firmware update (as recommended by the manufacturers and OS providers, and following their explicit instructions) my phone became irretrievably corrupted and now shows only the black screen of death. I have yet to find out about my chances of a replacement.
Like I said, it's not something that should have any real effect on my day to day life. After all it is only a phone, and to be perfectly honest I rarely phone people on it as we now have so many ways to leave messages without the pressure of conversing or making split second decisions on whether we are or are not free that weekend for something we'd rather not do anyway. But nonetheless while watching Biggest Loser last night with my wife, I glance over and she's just taken her own smartphone off the arm of the couch.She's checking her Facebook, or Googling one of the past contestants or something, and I can't help but be ticked off that I can't do the same. You know how it is in these modern times. It used to be that when the adverts came on we would get up and use the time to make a cuppa, or go to the loo. Nowadays when the adverts come on (if that's even an issue if we've sensibly sky+ the show, even to start watching it ten minutes past the real-time start time) many of us use those minutes to check in with the world and see how she's doing, even though half the time we don't really care much about what she has to say, or even more likely we actually really want to know if anyone else cared about the thing we last said on Twitter or Facebook; or indeed ironically I suppose, our blogs.
It's that inability to access anything and everything without the strenuous effort of climbing the stairs to check on the desktop computer in my study. We don't yet have a tablet in the hopes of avoiding that very conflict. We don't want to get to the point where we no longer get up to see something on a good sized screen, however much we might actually already be there by straining our eyes and using tiny taps to utilise the browsers on our already impressively sized Samsung Galaxy S's. And my frustration this morning at not being able to bring my phone to life and immediately be alerted to any e-mails that may have arrived during the night, or to check my Amazon.co.uk rankings for Secret of the Nexus (something else that has become a bit obsessive of late as I endlessly wonder how well my work is being received by my fellow Brits) is what tweaked me to the inescapable fact that technology in my life has rendered my need for it, well... inescapable. The key, really, i the upgrades, updates, and new versions necessary to keep up with the world and to have your base unit (be it your TV, phone, tablet etc) be able to handle anything new that enters its digital realm. My "bricking" for instance was the result of the Samsung apps app (which cannot be uninstalled) constantly crashing even though I don't use it, and sending my phone into a freeze until the error message pops up to tell me its crashed. So I rather sensibly thought that the latest version of my firmware might hold within its code a bug fix for this (as updating the apps app had done nothing to remedy the situation). Clearly not the case, and now I have a shiny plastic brick that I'm still six months away from upgrading from (and there's the magic, all enslaving word again - upgrade).
A couple of years ago it was almost a design requirement of mobile phone batteries that they get to the point within a year where there barely hold a half day charge. This would force you into frustration and subsequent costly early upgrade (or more substantial upgrade when actual upgrade time comes around) at not being able to check your messages, make a call or take a photo for the latter half of your day once you'd left the house where your life giving charger resides. Now however they have moved on to making the operating systems and apps the thing that must be constantly improved to allow your phone or tablet to stand a chance at even connecting to your own at-home wifi, let alone effectively buffering a Youtube video without making it seem like your "smartphone" is running off a 56K modem from 1995. If I haven't updated my OS now, the Facebook app I just updated will crash or go slow as an expression at its imagined slight at being paired with such an antiquated operating system as Froyo when it should be soaking up the speed of Gingerbread.
I saw an advert on telly the other day for a new type of TV - the Samusung smartTV. And oh what a clever little bugger it is. It is essentially a combination of a huge version of a smartphone, the xbox Kinect tech, and a built in webcam. You can swipe from your couch, browse the web, skype your nan (it is amazing how many nan's nowadays have skype and webcams and are more computer literate than my buddy in IT management - maybe TV is playing with me a little there?) and zoom in on images (oh, and watch TV). Once you realise it's a combo of several existing and very commonplace technologies, you then wonder how it is only just coming out when we're on the 5th or 6th iphone, Kinect has been out for three or more years, and webcams are now HD as standard. But still, I want one. Even though I know full well I hardly need another reason to not have to even lean forward to pick the remote up off the coffee table, I want one. Just the idea of being able to walk into the room and gesture magically at the telly and have it obey my commands... awesome in its promise. Add in the to mix the new voice recognition of the iphone where it can quite happily stalk your brother for you when you can't be arsed to look for them in a crowd yourself simply by asking it the question "where's my brother", and we're one step away from just telling the TV what to do without that terrible effort of moving our hands.
There is an upside to being so dependent on technology. I strive harder now to exercise and eat better to make up for all the ease of everyday life due to technology. But still, with the rate of improvement and advancement in technology, we seem only a few obese footed steps away from becoming the carefree and cuddly humans from Wall-E.Someone fetch me my hoverboard! (Those aren't far off, right?)
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