Coming soon, the “TV ad stack” will be something we are all aware of. The native TV OS will have ads. Any 3rd party device (Amazon, Google, Apple) will have its own ads. And the apps themselves will have ads, and within the shows there might be ads.
All balanced out by higher prices and subscription costs.
Someone who controls the whole stack can make it better and less messy. That means Apple making televisions?
The concept is for private booths in bars, but people with money can get it at home.
The UI is simple, there is a dial like an old rotary phone, with 17 positions. Not numbered, but could be, or use esoteric symbols. The idea is you change channel until you find something you like. The output is sound + video projected onto the wall. Yes, projected. People can get in the way.
Variety is important but the curated aspect is what you pay for.
For example a couple of channels will be sport, but they will be the most exciting live sport happening in the world right now. Could be lawn bowls or UFC. Could be in Scotland or Algeria.
Live feeds of public spaces. Again, curated. Where it is happening.
News service, but the most interesting that is live right now.
Throw in a classic movie, and some music channels – one could be a global what is hot in weird countries…
Steampunk access to the world at large. Aimed at open and adventurous minds.
Just some thoughts, from imagining my ideal at home intelligent robotic assistant.
It is primarily an AI chatbot companion on wheels. It hangs out with you, it is available to chat, and give answers and advice. The LLM is trained on your own data as well as having separate external AI info.
But also, it can do minor household tasks, with a strong focus on dealing with things when you are not there. Answering the door and accepting a package (placed on the top tray). Feeding pets and plants. AND looking after your kids. It is your proxy when you are not there.
And of course it will do daft random things, the Furby Factor.
But ultimately it is your buddy for watching sport at home. It brings you snacks and drinks without you needing to get off the couch. You can ask it who will win. You can make bets just by telling it. It will vibrate and sing when your team scores. It will screen calls from your girlfriend during the game.
Oh yeah, it is your at home Personal Assistant. Reminds you to put the bins out, or pay bills. Tells you to wake up, gives advice on how to dress, tells you off if you have eaten the wrong thing too much (you set the parameters), screens calls, books restaurants, operates the smart home. Next to you, with you, transparent.
Hey, show me the back yard.
Call work and tell them I am sick today
Go out the front door and see how windy it is
Throw a ball for the puppy
Yell out if my toddler goes near the kitchen
It used to be the dictatorships and communist lands where high technology wasn’t purely a capitalist thing. But as time has gone by, and the power of cheap technology grows rapidly the direction is clear – all tech will end up being state-run. Everywhere. One way or another.
Russia and India can switch of communications (mobile phones and internet) and one day countries like the US will make an argument for such a kill switch, for emergency security reasons.
Countries who are not long-term peaceful partners are distrusting each other’s operating systems, productivity suites, data centers, cloud storage, drones and surveillance devices. Soon that will include cars.
Military is becoming more electronic and less mechanical. Expect missiles encrypted so only those with permission can use them.
Every country making their own versions of everything isn’t feasible. So we will have Asia and Africa having Russian and Chinese tech, Europe AU/NZ/Canada and the rest of the Americas having theirs, and the US all by themselves.
Governments will have at least partial control of every tech business, from TVs and phones to toys and robots, to cars and drones. Anything on the spectrum that starts with certification and ends with complete ownership.
Within 5 years – the change will be rapid. A new cold war in terms of not wanting to be spied on.
We are aware that hackers are huge problem in the modern world, although for most people it is someone else’s problem. But the more we hear of it, the more wary we become. There are trends towards mitigating the risk by removing aspects of technology. This was in the news today:
Hong Kong’s banks have a new weapon against scams: Accounts that require customers to visit a branch to access their funds.
The territory’s Monetary Authority calls these accounts a “Money Safe.”
…Hong Kong’s government will now promote Money Safe with advertising and other tactics, and is already encouraging residents to use the accounts to store any cash they don’t intend to spend in the near future.
Presuming that the in-person verification cannot be thwarted, I love this. True peace of mind in a digital world. Many people otherwise can and do store cash secretly at home…
Similar measures are taking place in other areas.
Australian Defence has signed a multi-year Deed of Standing Offer with Google Australia to deliver enhanced, secure and air-gapped hyperscale cloud capability for Defence’s ICT Environment. It is confusing considering the entire idea of cloud computing was originally to be distributed across multiple locations, but this is an instance without connections to the outside world, especially useful for portable computation. It cannot be hacked remotely.
Also in Australia, the government just made it mandatory for supermarkets and gas stations to take cash. Which means cash is sticking around, and cash in your wallet cannot be hacked.
People with modern cars are resorting to old-school methods to protect them from theft, because it is easy to clone a digital key. Expect more and more physical keys returning as an option (at least) for vehicles.
And Tesla is in trouble because someone died in a burning car because electrical failure meant the doors wouldn’t open the usual way. Hopefully we return to mechanical doors, and more knobs and dials for things like air con.
And finally, smart homes haven’t really taken off, except for HVAC in the US. And door bells / security. I sense a trend towards more self-reliance, like backup power supplies and generators, and tech-free defence.
In New Zealand, a land that until a few hundred years ago had no mammals, there is a bold plan to remove every predator that threatens native species, via eradication. They are doing it via small areas at a time, with concerted efforts from locals.
Except, not unsurprisingly, feral cats. People don’t feel okay with killing those mammals. And there are way too many to catch, neuter and realise, even if it was affordable.
There might be a solution. Small, autonomous robots, flying or not, and solar powered, might be about to wander about the wilderness with very simplistic, repeated tasks.
It needs to:
I think it is all doable, and potentially not too expensive. Studies can find out what scares cats best.
Use groups of drones to herd the feral cats away from birds and towards a place where you have installed some serious fencing. Lock them away. Tell the public they can feed them if they wish, or let them starve from over-crowding.
This is an odd prediction to make, because if it comes true I won’t be able to show anyone…
There has been a lot of fiction regarding alien invasions, and mostly, for dramatic purposes, they don’t just wipe out all humans with the press of a button.
But they would most likely have access to a relatively modest weapon that could send us back to the dark ages – and EMP. Well, a number of them, around the world, detonated high above us, and taking out every single electronic device, including computers, cars, satellites and so on.
They might do so for legal or ethical reasons, as in a mandate to not directly kill any living things.
They could do it for our own good, before we blow each other up.
They could do it as a science experiment, or for fun.
Our enemies (Russia, China, Iran etc) could also find away to achieve an EMP. It would possibly be hard to trace, hard to retaliate, and make a country very vulnerable to a traditional invasion.
So, keep you car and computer in a Faraday Cage at all times!
There are similar ideas, like the Iron Curtain and Bullet Curtain, which both use a lot of tiny missiles to interfere with an incoming missile.
My idea is a mile high curtain, like a fishing net, woven from carbon fibre, as thin as possible.
It lies folded on the ground (maybe there are rows of them, miles apart…) and when activated it is sent skyward by rockets on each end of it. The rockets are angled slightly away from the curtain so that when the curtain is drawn tight horizontally, the rockets self-straighten.
Balloons are released when it reaches full height to keep the curtain up for a while. Afterwards, balloons and rockets are refreshed and the curtain can be re-used.
The netting of the curtain simply needs to be tight enough to probably stop whatever is incoming.
Conceivably it would be cost-effective relative to other systems, and a good part of required redundancy.
Every country should enact a law, in which all products sold must be able to perform their standard functions without any connection back to the manufacturer.
For example, smartphones would qualify. While OS updates are preferable, the phone will keep operating without them, or offline.
Actually, maybe it should be the Law of Offline. The product must specify which functionality will be lost if the product is offline. That could be anywhere from an EV not finding the nearest charging station to a tractor being bricked.
Regardless, we need to protect ourselves from the very real threat of being held hostage. Specifically, I can imagine that all Chinese EVs could be rendered useless by the flip of a switch.
Or, preferably, liquid paper.
It is a panel, directly below the passenger window, rectangular, big enough for two lines of legible text from the sidewalk.
And you can get it to say or show anything you want!
Only when the car is on, otherwise it could become a vandalism target.
Uses: