Someone brought up the Internet of Things recently. What a big bummer that has been so far. The below is just my musings cleaed up from a chat log.
I wanted the stock ticker glow ball to put on my end table, and a plant watering time indicator and a little screen that I could stick on my fridge with my local bus schedule or whatever; instead I can stare at my phone for those things (except the plant).
It turns out that digital data just begets digital data. Lazy tech companies write software to re-interpret the data presented by other software. Whee, I can get this phone message on my watch!
I mean, I guess smart cars are kind of amazing, but mostly tech just solves easy problems over again but with tech. What is uber but a phone app instead of the phone number you used to call to get a cab (except now the drivers can't make a living wage)?
And when the world of bits interacts with the real world it is often annoying. Like the rideshare scooter that is on the ground in front of my house for 3 days. Thanks, tech company. I guess it is an innovation that they figured out a way to leave expensive things lying around in public and not be too worried about them being taken and used for free, but OTOH how much of that is tech and how much is insurance coverage + wall street investor dollars just being thrown at the idea of "networking effects" and "effective monopoly" that pays for stolen or destroyed scooters?
*sigh* (my box caesar salad entry was better written)