Cyber Memory, Bionic Eyes or Smart Phone?

Todo or not todo, that is the question

[incrediBILL]

Everyone carries a smartphone but hardly use it to it's fullest capacity.

My phone has become my eyes, thanks to bad vision that can't be corrected for a short time, I'm relying on the magnifying app to see everything and the camera to take pics of stuff too far away (bottom shelf, top shelf, etc.) so I can see prices, etc. It's the best real world hack around.

HOWEVER, that's not the main topic, my main topic might seem so silly and trivial yet most of you don't use it - THE CHECKLIST. I had an app called Color Notepad that let's me put in free form text or a checklist. I have several checklists for anything from just general todo lists, shopping lists, restaurants to try lists and even lists of things to do on my web sites so I don't forget as they come to me. No, I don't sit there typing all the time as I keep my general checklist open most of the time and click the voice input and just say whatever it is I want to add to the ever growing list. Now the trick is to be disciplined enough to check it before you leave the store, leave the house, etc. and make sure you got everything you came for or need to take with you.

I'm hoping someone will make a location-based reminder app that you can have remind you to check the checklist when it senses you're leaving a location, that's an app I'd buy.

I have a really good memory but even mine isn't THAT good and I'm finding I'm getting way more things accomplished and spending a lot less time doing it just using this silly checklist on the phone.

I always remember to take my pills in the morning and at night but I have one that has to be taken during the day about 3PM that I almost never remember because I'm busy doing something else and not thinking about stupid pills. The daily alarm goes off with voice now to remind me daily and it says "PILLS THREEE ZERO ZERO P M" and I pull the pill pack out of my pocket and take it. Quite amusing but it's another cyber enhancement I can't live without.

Other time saving things are my music player has an option to start playing the minute you insert the headphone jack instead of fumbling around looking for the app, clicking play, etc. It also turns down the volume automatically so you don't blow your ears or the car speakers out when you do it.

Not to mention the flash in the camera has become my go-to flashlight that I use all the time.

It's not a phone, it's a Swiss Army knife with a level, compass, ruler...

It is my lifeline, phone or cyber enhancement?

Since it's in my hand most of the time, I'm going cyber enhancement which is why I'm foaming at the mouth to get my eyes fixed so I can try Google Glass so I can quit carrying this phone around :)

[Marshall]

Smartphones are also good to put under the leg of an uneven table.

Marshall
Disclaimer - I don't care for cell phones of any type.

[lucy24]

@incrediBill:

No, no, you don't understand. The whole point of a cell phone is that you no longer NEED to make a shopping list. You wait until you arrive at the store, and then call someone else living at your address and ask them what to buy. Bonus points if this person is also on a cell phone and is away from home, so you have to call a third person and hope that they will be better informed.

[incrediBILL]

I don't care for cell phones of any type.

Owned a cell since '91 and I'm never turning back that clock!

All the people used to scoff at me for having one that now conveniently don't remember it but flaunt their big fancy phones in my face. Heck, I realized how they should be used for kids even and gave my daughter one when she was about 12 for personal safety before ANY of the other kids had one and people thought we were completely nuts yet soon their kids had them too, now they all do. I'm always ahead of the digital herd ;)

IMO not having a cell is as bad as not having a smoke alarm, fire extinguisher, etc. as it has literally been that much of a life saver repeatedly.

It has saved my bacon many times and probably saved lives when I had cops on the phone following a DUI until they found us, he almost hit a biker, or the day the xmas tree fell off a someone's truck on the Bay Bridge and was spinning around with cars flying everywhere to miss it and I got emergency services right away, so on and so forth.

Hopefully it'll be in my pocket to dial 911 when the BIG ONE hits so I don't just croak.

Hope you don't get cataracts then because you'll quickly find these things beat using a regular magnifying glass as you can zoom in and then zoom in more if needed just as one application.

The whole point of a cell phone is that you no longer NEED to make a shopping list

Oh I understand all too well as I just did exactly that in 2 stores since I went shopping and the wife didn't want to go out so she was looking at the specials at home, loading coupons on my Safeway card from home for stuff to get, and if I can't tell which is the right item to buy I take a picture of it and send it via text messaging for her to check out before I buy it. ... OR ... I take a picture of the whole shelf of stuff so she can see and pick which one from the comfort of our sofa while me, the handicap guy with the bum foot riding on the cart in the store is out doing the shopping.

Makes perfect sense to me :)

[londrum]

I'm hoping someone will make a location-based reminder app that you can have remind you to check the checklist when it senses you're leaving a location, that's an app I'd buy.

thats something you can do on an iPhone already, without an app. if you go into their inbuilt 'reminders' thing, you can set it to pop up with an alert the next time you arrive at, or leave from, a particular place.
you could put your checklist into the same reminders thing as well, and check them off as you do them

[Marshall]

IMO not having a cell is as bad as not having a smoke alarm, fire extinguisher, etc. as it has literally been that much of a life saver repeatedly.

Bill,

I dd not say that do not serve a purpose, but we are drowning in a sea of technology, IMHO, and I personally do not care to be "connected" 24/7. And I genuinely believe we are becoming too dependent on gadgets. Then again, I make a living designing websites, so who am I to complain about gadgets that keep me working. ;)

Marshall

[incrediBILL]

Then again, I make a living designing websites, so who am I to complain about gadgets that keep me working

I wasn't going to say that... LOL

Now that the White Elephant in the room is out there, how and the heck can you tell if your sites work properly on a smartphone if you don't have one?

Not to mention that alone makes it a legit biz expense to boot.

Funny you mention drowning in gadgets as it's only ONE gadget that replaces the needs for multiple gadgets such as phone, flashlight, camera, magnifying glass, eReader, level, compass, stud finder, portable music player, portable radio, game machine, general purpose computer for email, twitter, facebook, remote control, bluetooth keyboard and touchpad, etc.

One gadget taking the place of MANY...

[LifeinAsia]

how and the heck can you tell if your sites work properly on a smartphone if you don't have one?

That was my argument for finally getting one (although got an iPod first and just used it with WiFi- refused to pay the monthly extortion prices at the time, but finally got an Android once I found a reasonable monthly price).

Although technically, you *could* use a smart phone emulator...

[Leosghost]

Now that the White Elephant in the room is out there, how and the heck can you tell if your sites work properly on a smartphone if you don't have one?

Not to mention that alone makes it a legit biz expense to boot.

Even if you don't make sites for others for a living,( life is too short ) but have your own sites..the above still applies..

[Leosghost]

Although technically, you *could* use a smart phone emulator..

I test "offline" with Opera's "emulator"..but it doesn't reproduce exactly what smartphones do..so did likewise, bought an android phone, ( and then upload sites first to a test area ) to be sure that what I see when making my sites, is what visitors see..before taking them "live"..

[incrediBILL]

Although technically, you *could* use a smart phone emulator...

Those still use the normal Windows browser and you see the same thing for the most part by just resizing your browser. Short of actually running it in the phone, depending on the level of complexity of the site, you have no real clue if it functions to your satisfaction as I've come across some real zingers including pages that simply don't display on the phone!

Good thing I mostly use it as an MP3 player and magnifying glass :)

[Marshall]

how and the heck can you tell if your sites work properly on a smartphone if you don't have one?

I have a friend that works for the largest wireless network and a cousin who is a VP at that fruit computer company. I can get all the gadgets I want free to test things. :) And I do own a few - doesn't mean I like them.

Marshall

[lucy24]

One gadget taking the place of MANY...

When I misplace my flashlight, or its batteries run out, I've concurrently lost use of my camera, magnifying glass, eReader, level, compass, stud finder, portable music player, portable radio, game machine, general purpose computer for email, twitter, facebook, remote control, bluetooth keyboard and touchpad.

Heh, heh.

:: wait ::

:: stop ::

:: rewind ::

There's a stud-finder app? How the bleep do they do that?

[lawman]

>>There's a stud-finder app?

Is that how you found your husband?

[incrediBILL]

There's a stud-finder app? How the bleep do they do that?

Android phones and even some tablets like the Nexus 7 have a magnetrometer which can sense metal.

I have an app that allows you to alter the message it displays when it finds metal and mess with iPhone users telling them it's an iPhone sensor and when it gets close to their batteries or something it displays a message like "DANGEROUS PROXIMITY TO FLAWED TEHNOLOGY!" or whatever message I'm in the mood to have it say at the time ;)

It also can detect the metal hooks in bras, zippers, etc. and can get you into all sorts of trouble if you aren't careful.

[Leosghost]

stud finder

William, your wife called..you picked up the wrong phone..

I was not going to "go there" ..but as lawman did ..;)

[lucy24]

Is that how you found your husband?

What a good thing I am not a coffee drinker, or you would shortly be receiving a bill for replacement of keyboard.

a magnetrometer which can sense metal

Oh, that kind of stud finder. I've got the kind that senses changes in density,** so you're not just finding the nails, you're finding the actual studs. Including the horizontal bits that go at varying heights along the length of the wall --useful when mounting things like towel racks whose length is not a multiple of 16 inches.

My new glasses case-- the fancy kind with magnetic closing-- gravitates toward the iPad. Or possibly toward the iPad's Smart Cover. (Which, inexplicably, does not prevent the alarm from working. I suspect it is smarter than I am.*)


* I once met a border collie that had the same effect on me.
** Insert witticism about ex-SO ad lib.

[Lame_Wolf]

Everyone carries a smartphone but hardly use it to it's fullest capacity.

I don't even own a dumbphone, let alone a smart one. Can't stand the ruddy things.

Disclaimer - I don't care for cell phones of any type.

+1

Now that the White Elephant in the room is out there, how and the heck can you tell if your sites work properly on a smartphone if you don't have one?

Who cares? If you want to visit my site, visit via a PC. Leave the mobile for phonecalls.

The whole point of a cell phone is that you no longer NEED to make a shopping list.

That is an expensive piece of paper if the whole point of having one is for a shopping list.

Shoot, I take a shopping list with me and forget I have one. On the rare occasions that I do remember that I have one, I miss off things on the list as well as purchasing things that were not on it. The wife has basically given up on writing a list for me. She cannot even guarantee I will go to the correct shop. I get in the car and forget where I am going.

[incrediBILL]

She cannot even guarantee I will go to the correct shop. I get in the car and forget where I am going.

See, that's why you need the smartphone so she can put the correct store in the navigation system and let the phone nag at you to turn here and there until you get where you're going.

The fact that the nagging navigation system has a female voice has not been lost on me.

Guess people that don't have them were never scifi fans because these are certainly the toys we saw them use on all the intergalactic vessels as kids and now it's in my hands doing all the cool tricks that Spock did with his Tricorder and maybe more!

Basically, the lump sum of human knowledge, art, shopping and real world tools are available in the palm of your hand, without having to be tethered to a desktop of lugging a laptop it goes with you anywhere you go.

How can that not be just too cool to have?

Apparently CBS disagrees with me: [techdirt.com...]

All I can say is I'm glad I got to experience what I helped work towards since getting my first computer in 1978, that I lived long enough to see it all coalesce into a coherent worldwide GPS enabled computing platform and hope I get to play with Google Glass before I bit the dust, and hopefully ride in one of those self-driving cars too.

I'm just bummed that I probably won't live long enough to see a true neural net interfaces that make all the extra stuff people lug around obsolete, or a real articificial intelligence as a digital assistant instead of that retooled Eliza they call Siri. SIRIously folks, I think crowd sourcing artificial intelligence is possible just like they crowd sourced voice recognition. You don't need the computer to really understand what's going on, just how many others responded to the same questions to make it sound like, using the same answers, that it's intelligent.

Getting greedy now ;)

[Lame_Wolf]

See, that's why you need the smartphone so she can put the correct store in the navigation system and let the phone nag at you to turn here and there until you get where you're going.

I have a built-in navigation system in my head. Plus, I don't want to hear her voice when I am driving. I get wound up as it is with slow drivers etc. I don't need to listen to her on top. (And in the UK, you are not allowed to use a mobile whilst driving.)

Her indoors bought me a sav-nav about 3 years ago. It is still in its box. I only drive to places where I know the route, so there's no need for a sat-nav etc.

[lucy24]

people that don't have them were never scifi fans because these are certainly the toys we saw them use on all the intergalactic vessels as kids

Know what you never ever saw?

Cap'n Kirk on communicator: "I'm about ten minutes from the pickup spot. Get ready to beam me up."

same, three minutes later: "I'm now about seven minutes away. What's for dinner?"

same, two minutes later: "I forgot to pick up the tricorder batteries, so we're now looking at an ETA of about twenty minutes."

same, three minutes later: "I'm on my way. Do we need paper towels?"

same, five minutes later: "I got held up in traffic so I may be a few minutes longer. What did you say was for dinner?"

same, two minutes later: "I decided to stop by Starburgers and pick up a couple of combos. Don't start dinner without me."

...

Besides, it's SF. "SciFi" is the stuff they used to show on late-night TV-- remember late-night TV? --with the creatures with tentacles chasing after Mamie Van Doren.

The folks at NASA were never SF fans either, or they'd know that the space program is supposed to be a branch of the Navy so everyone involved has the appropriate nautical rank. What self-respecting spaceship would allow itself to be commanded by ... a colonel? Hmph.

[incrediBILL]

Besides, it's SF. "SciFi" is the stuff they used to show on late-night TV-

Yeah yeah, SF is a city, SciFi is what I watch until they messed it up with SyFy and then promptly cancelled all the good shows!

[Kendo]

Smartphones are also good to put under the leg of an uneven table.

Like!

I don't want one and don't need one except to validate SMS messages when I add a new payee to my online banking. Even then I have to go outside, wait for the call, then get back to the computer in time before the pincode expires.

What you can't put in an email I don't want to hear about, ever.

[incrediBILL]

What you can't put in an email I don't want to hear about, ever.

Um, I'm not sure but all y'all skipped over the point I use it for a Swiss Army knife for all the functions like a like computer on steroids, I barely ever use it as an actual phone.

Think VERY small laptop with a 4G card, magnetometer, camera, microphone and GPS.

The fact that it actually functions as an actual phone to make voice calls, other than calling my Wife, Mom and Daughter, is the least used function of this portable computer. My desktop computer also takes phone calls and functions as an answering machine, big whoop! It's still a desktop computer!

Y'all people get hung up on the "cell phone" aspect - IT'S THE ULTIMATE PORTABLE COMPUTER AND AID FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED!

It actually reads things to me and thanks to the universal translator allows me to understand the menu in actual Chinese, not the dumb downed part only for non-Asians.

If I only knew what the dishes were even after the Chinese translation! LOL

[Kendo]

like computer on steroids

Sure, lots of people run their business from one and almost everything these days is targeted to the users of them. But personally I have no time for them. What I can't do on my PC is not needed and what I can do on my PC is many times more secure, ie: activity and messages are stored on my servers and a PC cannot fall out of my pocket for the next passer by to collect. Also, usage is much more economical. But then I don't use a land phone either. In fact I do no business by phone at all. Then when I walk away from my PC I have complete privacy.

Er, what was that you said? Sorry but I can't scroll back on my phone. Or, can you hold while I can get something to eat? Then we can both be chomping while we discuss things. Or, yes it's obvious that you do indeed speak very good english, but I cannot understand your f****** accent!

[incrediBILL]

LOL nice reductio ad absurdum arguments.

[lucy24]

Yeah yeah, SF is a city

No, no, SF is The City. But you already knew that ;)

[incrediBILL]

No, no, SF is The City

What get's under my skin are people that call the road "The El Camino Real" which is totally redundant with "the the" and I don't give a hoot if it spans too languages, it's still REDUNDANT!

FWIW, I'd probably never find anything on El Camino Real if it wasn't for Google Nav because, as people that don't live here don't know, it's a road that runs thru a bazillion little California cities and the street numbers change every 5 seconds while you're driving so you could easily miss the city markers and pass 3-4 versions of "1125 El Camino Real" in mere minutes. Now I don't have to take my eyes off the VERY BUSY and dangerous road to look at the numbers on the side of the road, I just wait for Sarah (the phone voice) to say "Your destination is on the right" and pull over.

PC cannot fall out of my pocket

Nor can my phone.

What kind of defective pockets do you use?

you are not allowed to use a mobile whilst driving

Same here too. It's called VOICE COMMAND. Navigation is started by voice command, the address is also entered via voice, and once you set it before you start driving you don't need to touch it again until you reach your destination. People that don't use it don't know how it works but sure have lots of opinions about it that aren't founded in fact.

Reminds me of my SILs recent visit where she tells us we shouldn't use the hot water out of the tap because of lead pipes, ours are all copper, and we shouldn't microwave our plastic food storage because of BPAs, ours are all BPA free, and other old wives tales spread by old old wives yet she's single. The point being she had all these opinions about things she didn't use and didn't know the facts.


Glass house, rocks, blah. :)

[Leosghost]

Somewhat concerning is the fact that, due to the temporary condition of your eyes, ( and thus semi-blindness ) even though you need to use your phone to see what is on the shelves of the supermarket due to this semi-blindness, that you nevertheless drive your car..

I suspect that your phone cannot see kids running out in front of you, pedestrians stepping off the sidewalk, and other vehicles..

Unless it is Mrs incredibill doing the driving ? which must be fun, given the contents of a section of your blog ;))))..

[Kendo]

What kind of defective pockets do you use?

I don't recall the figures exactly, but apparently the number of phones that get lost, misplaced or stolen is quite high. Globally it amounts to hundreds of millions of phones per year.